


The Dream of a Normal Life

by Takara_Phoenix



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Anal, Annabeth does stupid, Bondage, Bottom!Percy, Cheating, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Fluff, Frank and Hazel get a Leo, Jason is easily confused, Leo gets a car, M/M, Masturbation, Memory Loss, Multi, Nicercy - Freeform, Piper knows what she wants, Polyamory, Reyna and Nico are bros, Shoujo-ai, Shounen-ai, Slash, Threesome - F/M/M, Top!Nico, Voyeurism, but Piper helps her fix it, fake memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:44:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2059776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/pseuds/Takara_Phoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus, Gaia traps them in a dream-reality, to suck the life out of them. The rest of the crew - including Nico and Reyna - are caught too once they reach the Doors of Death.<br/>In their dream-reality, they're all college students, moving in with Nico to start their classes.<br/>With the memories of their demigodly life gone, they see their own relationships in a different light and discover that maybe, they have desires for someone else.<br/>Percy starts questioning his sexuality when Nico starts to blatantly flirt with him all the time.<br/>Nico is intrigued by Percy and hits it off with Reyna; very much comfortable with his sexuality in this life.<br/>Reyna is shocked to see her ex-boyfriend from high school, Jason, with his new girlfriend.<br/>Jason doesn't know what to feel - aside from the sudden lesbian-vibes his girlfriend gives off.<br/>Piper discovers that she likes blondes; even if they're female.<br/>Annabeth tries to keep Percy's virtue intact and safe from Nico while gradually falling very hard for Piper.<br/>Frank and Hazel just want Leo. Leo just wants Frank and Hazel. So with everyone else so caught up in their own drama, they have it the easiest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Swallowed and Spit Out

Title: The Dream of a Normal Life – Attending the Athena University of Applied Science

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; right after Mark of Athena

Disclaimer : All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, hetero, threesome, shoujo-ai, fluff, memory loss/fake memories, explicit intercourse, anal, masturbation, voyeurism, bondage, cheating

Main Pairing: most main being Nicercy, with Frazeleo, Pipabeth and Jayna

Side Pairings: Percy/Annabeth (to-be-past), Jason/Piper (to-be-past), Frank/Hazel (established), Thalia/Bianca, Tyson/Ella, Chris/Clarisse, Charles/Silena, Grover/Juniper, Ethan/Alabaster, Jake/Will, Malcolm/Katie, Lou/Miranda, Shane/Lacy, Gleeson/Mellie

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason Grace, Gaia

 _Percy, Frank & Reyna's Sports Major_: Hylla Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Kinzie Cohen, Bianca di Angelo, Zoe Nightshade, Phoebe Burge, Thalia Grace, Clarisse la Rue,

 _Nico's Medical Major_ : Will Solace, Kayla Hein, Austin Barton, Mitchell Logan, Lacy Hunnigan

 _Leo & Hazel's Arts and Crafts Major_: Alabaster C. Torrington, Lou Ellen, Silena Beauregard, Tyson Jackson, Charles Beckendorf, Jake Mason, Nyssa Black, Shane McNabb, Miranda Gardner

 _Annabeth's Literature Major_ : Malcolm Cage, Octavian Simmons, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Ella Dare

 _Piper's Law Enforcement Major_ : Drew Tanaka, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Juniper Underwood

_Jason's Management Major_ : Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, Chris Rodriguez, Katie Gardner

_Faculty Staff_ : Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis, Howard Claymore, Mellie Hedge, Gleeson Hedge, Lupa Brunner, Chiron Brunner, Grover Underwood, Janitor Bob

_Animals & Pets_ : Blackjack, Arion, Scipio, Tempest, Mrs. O'Leary, Argentum, Aurum, Small Bob

Summary: Gaia had once before send Hazel a vision of how her life could have been and gave her the decision to stay in the dream, have a life at Sammy's side.

Now she has managed to capture the Seven of the Great Prophecy, together with Reyna and Nico, and send them into a shared dream. A dream of a normal life, where they just start college, have to fight with social stands, love, rivalry and tests instead of monsters and prophecies. The problem is, Gaia has robbed them of their memories, making them believe that this dream is reality. That the nine of them are roommates and that most of them have never even met each other. Now they have to handle disturbing nightmares of monsters, strange flashbacks that make them remember faces they should have never seen before and an eerie feeling. Even though Gaia may have left them with their memories of their relationships (Percabeth, Jasper, Frazel), now that they have lost their memories of the adventures and forces that had caused them to be, they start seeing each other in a different light. So on top of the harsh life of students and reality slowly seeping into their dream-world, they start having feelings for their roommates and some start questioning why they have ever started dating each other to begin with (ending Percabeth and Jasper emotionally within the first chapter, because I really can't write that), leading to very much jealousy, some cheating and possibly curse-dream breaking new love-bonds.

 

 

 

**The Dream of a Normal Life**

_ Attending the Athena University of Applied Science _

 

_Chapter 1: Swallowed and Spit Out_

 

The last thing he saw, before they fell deeper and deeper into the darkness of Tartarus itself, was Nico's face. The son of Hades looked torn between emotions – angry, guilty, sad, regretful. As though he was just losing the most important thing in his life.

“Y—You should have let go, Percy!”, whispered Annabeth into his ear.

She was clinging desperately to him as they were falling deeper and deeper into the pitch-black pit. He shook his head, holding her close, not wanting to lose her now, because then they would be truly separated, both on their own in the darkest pit of the world.

“Never”, replied Percy in a hushed voice, pressing her closer to himself. “You're the sister I never had and I will be damned if I let you face this alone, Annie.”

Even though he couldn't see her in the dark, he still knew that she was smiling at him. It was a secret, their secret. That their relationship was fake. It hadn't always been, at first they had been misguided by the pushing campers into believing that they were meant to be. But after only a short while, they realized that they weren't meant to be. They shared no common interests, or at least not those that mattered. Their deepest, dearest passions were things the other could not understand and no relationship could work if one always spaced out whenever the other talked. But with the pressure of camp, with being their leaders and their heroes, they had not yet dared to tell anyone. Pretending was easier than facing their disappointment and having to explain themselves. Because they did love each other, just not in the way everyone wanted them to. They were like siblings, had always been. Ever since he had first woken up to her taunting words, they had fallen into a back and forth of teasing, she teasing him more than he did with her because she was the 'big sister', as Annabeth had stated and thus had more rights than he did. Never argue with a wise girl.

“W—What if... if something happens to them?!”, exclaimed Annabeth worried. “Now that they're on their own... I... What if they start fighting and everything fails? You know the distrust between Nico and Jason and how much Frank and Hazel edge on with Leo, what if-”

“They'll pull through”, reassured Percy, closing his eyes tightly and praying that he was right. “They will, because Nico promised to watch over them, to lead them. They have him, they'll manage, I know it. Nico won't fail to find us and rescue us.”

“Your trust in him is disturbing”, muttered Annabeth skeptically, her nails digging into his shoulders. “I just hope you're right... if... if something happens to Piper... and the others...”

“Don't worry, my dear little demigods”, hissed a voice that seemed to echo from everywhere as though the pit surrounding them was talking. “You will soon be reunited again with them. Without you, they will fail and I will capture them. But until then, you two will sleep. Now sleep.”

Percy tried to fight it, he didn't want to sleep, but somehow the lulling voice, the endless darkness and the feeling of falling deeper and deeper made him drowsy. He could feel Annabeth's grip on him loosening a little, as though she was slowly drifting off too. The last thing he could think before sleep took over was that he prayed for Nico to lead the others to victory and to find him, to find them, and rescue them from Gaia's grasp. As it happened when on the verge of sleep, his thoughts got mushy and weird and the last image that passed his mind was how he was falling asleep like Sleeping Beauty and how he hoped Nico would come to his rescue like Prince Charming. The thought made him snort a little ridiculed, but it also send a slightly tingly and happy feeling through his body, because he knew he could count on Nico. Nico had always been there, would always be there, whenever Percy needed him the most.

“Sleep now, my precious little puppets”, whispered Gaia as she caught the two in giant hands of earth from the pit around, cradling them close until the hands pressed against the walls and merged again, leaving the demigods in a cocoon of earth. “Sleep so I can bleed your power out.”

 

/break\

 

Nico was trying to stand brave and walk with his chin upright as the Argo II landed near Athens. He could feel the metaphorical daggers Jason was throwing at his back, the blonde was still not trusting him. And it didn't help that Piper seemed awfully upset with him too ever since... since they had lost Percy and Annabeth. She was probably the one blaming him second most, right after himself, for what had happened. For not being able to hold onto them, to rescue them. And even though Nico was well-aware that Piper tried not to blame him, deep down she did.

“We'll rescue them. We need to”, whispered his sister next to him, grabbing his hand reassuringly.

On her other side was Frank, looking gruff and angry, a look most of them had adapted ever since losing the heart and the brain of their mission. Ever since losing Percy and Annabeth. Looking over his shoulder, Nico could see Leo walking next to Jason and Piper. The Latino was awfully silent these days, probably also blaming himself, thinking what ifs about coming to their rescue with the Argo II faster. And that everybody was so on edge was not helping matters any either. Frank spend an awful lot of time snapping at Leo as though the son of Hephaestus himself was offending him with his mere existence. Even Hazel said that this was worse than before.

“You're here”, sighed a relieved voice from the shadows.

The six of them turned to see Reyna. They had contacted her via IM a few days ago, hoping to reason with her. Just to realize that there was no need to reason with her for she was the only Roman still on their side. She had agreed to meet up with them to discuss how they could rescue Annabeth and Percy and how she could help by delaying and misleading the Romans for a little while longer. Octavian was on a war path and Reyna was the only thing standing between him and the destruction of the Argo II and the death of the six. Something Nico could not allow, because they were the only ones who could rescue Percy. And Annabeth too. And Nico had promised Percy that he would lead them to the doors, that he would protect the others in Percy's name. He wouldn't fail the son of Poseidon, never again would he fail the Sea Prince.

“I'm glad you could make it”, nodded Nico shortly.

The daughter of Bellona send him a small smile, one that didn't reach her eyes and looked more tired and worn out than happy. But before she could even open her mouth to answer, it seemed that the earth itself started to swallow them. Nico cursed beneath his breath. They all hadn't slept in days, getting out of Rome had been a hardship with the mountain giants constantly attacking them. Their guard was down, they were all nearly too exhausted to even stand.

“No!”, growled the son of Hades angered.

Not now and certainly not like this. It was too humiliating, being swallowed alive like that, without even having the chance to put a fight up. He couldn't fail Percy like that, he just couldn't.

“Don't worry, little demigod”, whispered Gaia wickedly. “You will soon be reunited with them again. They will not know who you are and you will not know who they are, but you will see them again. Now sleep, my dear children. Sleep and you will see your friends again.”

Nico tried to fight, to free himself from the earth's grasp. He could hear the others struggling behind him, cursing loudly and screaming. But the more he fought, the more his strength seemed to leave him. He was so tired and exhausted, all he wanted was to sleep. And to see Percy again. Couldn't he just have that? Some rest and the Sea Prince back. That sounded good.

“Sleep and I will bleed out all your energy and use it, I will awaken again and you will sleep for me instead”, whispered Gaia with a wicked little laugh. “Such good, good children.”

Nico tried to open his eyes. No, he couldn't sleep. He needed to do as he had promised Percy. And had Gaia just said that they wouldn't remember Percy and Annabeth and vice versa? Not again, he couldn't face Percy again without the Sea Prince remembering him. Never again.

 

/break\

 

“Percy!”, screamed Nico, his voice raw as he sat up in his bed.

His heart was racing a mile an hour, his palms sweaty and his breath ragged. Shaking his head, trying to shake the nightmare off, he climbed out of his bed, pushing the black velvet sheets off. It was too hot for them away and he hated the cocooned feeling they gave him. Glaring at the sheets as though they had personally offended him, he walked over to the window, staring out at the night.

The darkness calmed him somehow, something he had never understood really. Others feared the darkness, yet to him it was somehow reassuring. The only thing odd was the view. Not odd, really. It was just the far-away looking skyline of Miami as he was living in a mansion a little off, a little away from the loud and noisy city. Still, it always startled him how close the city looked and how bright. Sometimes it made him feel like he wasn't from this world.

Shaking his head, he rested his forehead against the cool window. He was going crazy, Bianca was right. Living all alone in this big house was doing things to his mind. Like these nightmares. He didn't remember them, only blurry shapes and shadows and sometimes a name, always the same name. _Percy_. The way it ringed in his mind, it sounded important. But he didn't know anyone named Percy. He didn't know many people to begin with. Frowning at the skyline of Miami, he made a decision. He couldn't keep going crazy like that, he needed company.

The new semester would be starting soon and there were certainly still enough students out there who had not yet found a place to stay. Their little town close Miami was overly crowded with students, especially when the autumn semester started every year. Maybe if he'd put something into the papers, he would find some roommates to make this house less big and lonely and take his mind off of those crazy nightmares. Bianca would approve of this. Besides, it was going to be his first semester at Athena University, the start of a new life, as Bianca liked to say. AU offered him a whole new life and the chance of meeting new people.

Nodding determined, he turned back to his bed. Tomorrow, he would call the newspaper.

 

/break\

 

“Leo! Get your stuff together!”, called a pretty native American a little irritated. “We need to leave.”

“Right, right”, nodded a small and cute Latino. “I know. But... where to? I mean, sure they accepted us at the university, but... we still need a place to stay. I'm not sleeping under the bridge.”

The two roommates glared at each other for a little while, at least until their third roommate joined them. The blonde boy was looking sleepy and acting more mechanical as he leaned down to kiss his girlfriend, in his sleepy mind not even noticing how cunningly she dodged the kiss.

“I've been going through the _Terrapolis Daily_ and there is one ad that sounds kind of promising”, replied the girl, pointing at the newspaper. “Some guy, living in a 'spacious house on a hill overseeing Terrapolis' has rooms to rent to students, he's attending AU too so he wants to offer his help to fellow students who haven't found anything yet. Says the house even has a pool and a big property. He still has room for up to eight people. And it's not expensive.”

“Sounds fishy, Piper”, grunted the blonde with one raised eyebrow. “If it's really that spacious and has a pool and all, why should it be cheap? I don't trust this thing. What do you think, Leo?”

“Calling won't hurt”, huffed Leo and snatched the newspaper away. “We need a place to live. Because the way between New York and Terrapolis is just too freaking long. Let's try.”

“Yes”, agreed Piper with a grin. “I mean, we'll fly there today anyway. We can at least look at the place. If the owner is some creepy pedophile who just wants pretty young boys and girls around him, we can still ditch it and stay in a hotel for a while.”

 

/break\

 

The young woman frowned slightly as she pushed her long, black hair behind her ears. Her two dogs next to her yelped and whined curiously as though they were trying to tell her something. But her focus was on the newspaper in her hand. She had only arrived in Terrapolis this morning and she knew that it would be impossible to find a place to stay that late, but her acceptance letter from the Athena University had arrived late, giving her no chance to look for a place earlier.

Lifting her eyes off the newspaper, she looked up at the house in front of her. It was the right address alright. But that wasn't just a spacious house, it looked a little like a mansion. And the hill was practically overseeing the university's property, which made the 'close to campus' sort of ridiculous. Any closer and the house would be located on the school's property. Something had to be wrong with this place. It's owner was probably an old creep or something.

“Argentum, Aurum, calm down now!”, glared the girl as her dogs pulled her to the house.

The two dobermans looked at her innocently and she rolled her eyes. Okay, time to check that house, maybe she was just being overly cautious again. Ringing the doorbell, she was surprised at who opened. That was not an old creep. The handsome Italian raised one eyebrow questioningly at her, water running down his well-built torso. Judging by the swimming shorts he was wearing and the towel drapped over his shoulder, the part about the pool seemed to be true.

“Hello, I'm Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano. I'm here for the... rooms?”, asked Reyna slowly. “Oh, and very important, I hope dogs won't be a problem, because I really can't move without them.”

The boy, about her age if she had to guess, took a look at the dogs and shook his head before kneeling down. “Dogs aren't a problem. I like them. Name's Nico, Nico di Angelo. How about you guys come in and I show you the rooms? You're the first, so you got a free pick.”

Argentum and Aurum climbed up onto Nico's knees and started to sniff his face as he patted their heads. Her dogs liked him already so he probably wasn't a serial killer. Probably.

 

/break\

 

Annabeth frowned as she sipped her coffee, staring over the shoulder of her boyfriend. Percy was, once again, absentmindedly doodling stuff. He wasn't very artistic, but it could be recognized as what it was. And that was probably what hat her so worried. He kept repeatedly drawing the same nonsense. A skull with burning red eyes, sometimes with two tridents crossed behind it. Was he joining a satanistic cult or something? It worried her.

“Percy”, started the blonde slowly. “I know you've been avoiding this topic, but we need to find a place to stay. We barely even agreed on a college to attend. I doubt we'll find a place to live...”

“It's because you're all academics and architecture and I just want something where I can have different sports and a place that is homey, I don't care what influences it had”, huffed the boy, looking up from his doodling. “Besides, I told you we can always stay with my mom for a little while longer. She said it's fine.”

Right, Sally Jackson, the reason they had moved to Terrapolis to begin with. Percy had been at the same boarding school as Annabeth and they had been together since they were sixteen now. Three years, yet sometimes, or most of the time if she was being honest with herself, she felt more like his mom or his big sister, having to take care of him and think things through for him. Like with college, if she would have left that up to him, he would still be sitting in high school, not knowing where to go or what to do. She had barely and with much bribing got him to tell her that he wanted to do something with sport, he was an athlete. Swordplay, riding, swimming, he loved it all. He could rant about it for hours and hours without a break, to the point where Annabeth just zoomed out and nodded occasionally. Not that he didn't do the same to her, after all. He always got that blank look on his face that told her she was talking in too complicated words again. But it was fine, they both had the stuff they loved and did that. Annabeth frowned confused. No, that was not fine. If they loved each other, shouldn't they show interest in what the other loved? Shaking her head, she tried to concentrate on something else. Everything would get better once they'd go to college. They would be attending the same college, because gladly enough the Athena University in Terrapolis, the place Percy's mother had moved to a year or so ago, had to offer a broad variety of majors. She had already chosen literature class and for Percy it was the big assortment of sports that got him to agree. They would attend college together, a new start. Not having to be the golden couple of high school anymore, without all the expectations and everything, it lifted a great weight off her shoulders just thinking how that may feel. AU would mean a completely different life for her.

“I know, but I don't want to sponge off your mom forever”, sighed Annabeth, pushing her hair back and leaning down to kiss his forehead. “We need our own place. I'll check the newspaper, you... keep doing whatever it is you're drawing there...”

Another of these things that made her feel out of place when she was with Percy. For a few days now, she had not kissed him on the mouth once. But she remembered, it had never been like that before. She remembered clearly that they were a happy couple and very much in love. Since waking up a week ago, it had started feeling off though. Shaking her head, she grabbed the newspaper.

 

/break\

 

Golden eyes stared a little lost into the distance as she shifted her backpack. Something about this town didn't feel right, as though it wasn't even supposed to exist. Her stomach curled together in itself as she kept walking, with her boyfriend next to her.

Her half-brother had called her earlier and asked if she had finally signed up for a college. He was annoying, noisy and never minding his own business, but he was a big brother, so she supposed that was part of the deal. He had practically ordered her to come here, had said he'd have enough room for them – because she and her boyfriend were a package-deal – and that they would find something at Athena University. They just needed to get their act together and start somewhere.

“And you really think it's a good idea to move in with Nico?”, frowned Frank, grabbing her hand.

“Do you have any other idea?”, huffed Hazel with one raised eyebrow. “He is right. We need to get our priorities sorted and start at some point. Besides, AU offers many different sport activities. Archery, you love archery. And living with Nico won't be that bad.”

“Aside from the fact that he's always glaring at me”, muttered the Canadian with a slight pout. “You don't think he'll ever allow me to sleep in the same room as you, do you?”

“Oh please, he's not going to mix us up with others”, laughed Hazel ridiculed before frowning. “Or do you...? I mean, no. He's not that overly protective. Right?”

“Right”, snorted Frank. “You're not the one he threatened with ripping balls off and playing ping-pong with them and... urgh, no. I really think that's a stupid idea.”

“You're just grumpy because you've been having a nightmare again”, frowned Hazel worried, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. “Was it about a fire again?”

“It was about... I don't know...”, frowned Frank, looking as though he was trying very hard to remember something that his brain just wouldn't supply. “About an imp, I think? It was a cute imp though. But yeah, there was fire... all around him... it... frightened me, I think I tried to pull the imp out of the fire, but the fire kept following him like it tried to take something else away from me...”

“But what would you want with an imp?”, grunted Hazel a little confused, tilting her head.

“I don't know”, shrugged the Canadian a little upset. “Like I said, it was a cute imp. Maybe I wanted to keep him as a pet or something...? I don't know what you're supposed to do with imps!”


	2. Rooming Arrangements Part I

_Chapter 2: Rooming Arrangements Part I_

 

Nico glared unimpressed at his younger sister and her boyfriend as the two of them tried to give him the most innocent look possible. He was not impressed with them. Shifting the card-box in his arms some, he continued his way to the room his first housemate had chosen. Just as him and Reyna were bringing her stuff inside, Hazel and Frank had appeared on the doorstep and asked for a room to stay. _A_ , as in singular. If they really believed he would let that happen, they were mistaken. The couple followed him to Reyna's room, still with the puppy-eyes on.

“No”, grunted Nico annoyed. “You can live here, yes. But you're not rooming together.”

“Uh, hi? This would be my room, so...”, asked Reyna slowly. “Wait. Hazel? Frank?”

The black-haired girl knelt on the bed, putting books into a shelf. Hazel had the decency to blush at barking into someone's room, while Frank was still focused on looking innocent and nice.

“Hi, Rey! I haven't seen you since graduation last year”, smiled Hazel friendly.

“Well, if you two know each other, you can share a room”, declared Nico, turning a serious expression on them. “Don't give me those looks. It's not just you. Even if other couples turn up on my doorstep, I'm not having couples sharing a room. This is supposed to be a rooming arrangement for students. Students, who have to go to university in the morning and don't need to be kept awake because some couples have to fuck all night long. No sharing a room. What you do during the day, or if you go somewhere else for that, then I really don't care. But I won't have you keeping each other and the rest of the house awake all night. That's the end of it, no discussions there.”

 

/break\

 

Frank groaned as he sipped on his coffee. It was too freaking early in the morning to be awake, especially on a Sunday. But this household was 'up early'. Reyna had been up at five to train and had effectively woken Hazel up, who in return went over to Frank's room to wake him up. Now the poor Canadian was forced to be awake, on a Sunday, at six o'clock in the freaking morning. At least his girlfriend had brought him a coffee and offered to cuddle on the couch and watch cartoons, that was at least a bit making up for it.

“I hate your brother”, mumbled Frank, stiffening a yawn. “I couldn't sleep at all this night, because you weren't with me. How am I supposed to sleep without someone to cuddle with...?”

“You'll manage”, laughed Hazel amused and kissed his cheek. “Besides, I think he's right. While we had nothing to do, it was fine living together and sharing a bed. We fucked all night and slept until noon. Now with university, we can't keep doing that. And you know we would still do it, because... it's us. You and me. I can't not want you and you can't not want me. But this way, you and me still can be together whenever we want, but we'll get our sleep.”

She leaned in to kiss him softly, probably to keep him from protesting. Not that he could really protest to that, because it was true. He was barely capable of keeping his hands to himself when he was around Hazel. They wouldn't get any sleeping or studying done if they'd share a room...

 

/break\

 

Reyna was combing her long, black hair thoughtful, her dogs laying at her feet. The house was amazing, it had really blown her mind. The training room and the swimming pool in the basement, behind the wine cellar, the spacious living room, the wonderful kitchen, the park-like garden with a big pond and a gorgeous rose and flower garden. The rooms too were very spacious, four spare bedrooms, each already with two king sized beds, a double-sided shelf between them for more privacy, each side including not just a bed, but also a desk, a hair, an arm-chair and a closet. And still that half bedroom was bigger than most of the dorm rooms she had seen on the campus. Hazel, who had arrived here yesterday, a couple hours after Reyna, had been a surprise, they had gone to high school together, so the two girls had hastily agreed to room together, because who knew what else would come in later? It came as a surprise she was the younger half-sister of the owner, as Reyna had learned. It wasn't much of a surprise that Frank and Hazel were still together. He looked gruff, but was a big softy just as she recalled him to be. The owner however, Nico, she wasn't quite sure what to think of him. He was too handsome to not have an ulterior motive to let strangers live with him. Maybe Hazel and Frank were only a decoy to lure pretty girls in so he could use his Italian charm on them...? With that bad boy exterior he could sure make some girls swoon.

“You slept well?”, asked Nico curiously as he leaned in the door frame. “Like the bed?”

She glared and threw her hairbrush at him. “Knocking! If you're some creep who only lets pretty girls stay here so you can peep on them, I will break your arms _and_ legs before calling the cops.”

“First of all”, grunted Nico amused as he picked the brush up. “I'm gay, okay? I'm not interested in you in any other way than potential friendship. Sorry for not knocking, I'm not used to not being the only one in this house anymore, _and_ your door was open.”

“Oh”, blinked Reyna and flushed a little embarrassed. “Wait. You're gay? That is such a waste of... No, never mind. I can picture it, nice picture. Very nice picture. When will I meet your boyfriend?”

“If you're some creep who only accepts to live with gays so she can peep on them, I'll throw you out on the streets”, grunted Nico mock-serious. “And I don't have a boyfriend at the moment.”

“Too bad”, huffed the girl and stood, tying her hair back. “I could picture it so nicely... Especially when you look like _that_. So you don't come from a... make-out session?”

“I was out running”, snorted Nico with one raised eyebrow. “And I don't think I want to know what is going on inside that head of yours. It seems to be a very filthy place.”

“Oh, you have no idea”, smirked Reyna nonchalantly, brushing past him.

Nico shook his head as his first housemate walked past him. He liked her, she had sass, a strong will and as he had seen this morning in the training room before his run, she was also very good at combat. The two of them already got along pretty well, he had helped her with her stuff and they had spend the evening on the couch, watching  _Police Academy_ . And now that she knew that he wasn't after a hot number with her because he was gay, that would take an even better turn.

Stretching some, he just wanted to return to his own room to take a shower when he heard the doorbell. Glaring a bit annoyed, he changed directions. He just wanted his shower, it was the best part of training; the shower afterward. He loved the feeling of water surrounding him, it felt like... being hugged by a lost lover, even though he didn't understand what it meant, he just knew he liked it. So whoever was denying him that one moment of peace he allowed himself, was going to regret it very much. Not that he would hurt his possible roommate(s), he would probably just prank them.

That thought didn't live long in his head as he opened the door. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a pretty blonde girl, but his eyes were too caught up on the sight right in front of him. A pretty and kind of adorable boy, maybe half a head shorter than Nico, with sun-kissed skin and ruffled, wild, a little longer black hair. The dark blue jeans had holes in all the right places, hugging long legs in a perfect way, combined with a sleeveless, sky-blue shirt that was just reaching the boy's hip-bones and revealing that tempting sliver of skin. The boy's fingers were linked with the girl's, which somehow bothered Nico immensely, so he turned to glare questioningly at the blonde female.

“You two love birds just going to stand there, holding hands, or is there something you want?”

The girl blushed a little embarrassed and let go of the boy's hand to push her hair back. “Yes. We'd like to see the rooms? I'm Annabeth Chase, I called earlier. Thanks for having us.”

As she thrust her hand out for him to shake, the pretty boy opened his eyes. If the boy had caught Nico's interest first, then he now had captured Nico's full attention. His eyes were big and innocent and of such a deep, green color like the wide and wild sea, just as open too, mirroring so many emotions at once that it nearly knocked Nico down. The girl coughed slightly to regain his attention and now that she wasn't holding hands with the pretty boy anymore, he could oblige. Taking the hand, he shook it, surprised by the girl's strong grip.

“I'm Nico di Angelo, nice meeting you personally”, introduced Nico himself, before refocusing his attention back to the main attraction of the morning. “And you are...?”

“Percy di Angelo”, sputtered the pretty boy and blushed wide-eyed. “Jackson. Percy Jackson. My name is Jackson, yours is di Angelo, I just... I'm having my head up in the clouds again. Sorry.”

Nico laughed at the slip of his tongue fondly, even though his mind froze.  _Percy_ . The name from his dream. Could this boy, this gorgeous boy, truly be the boy of his dreams? He could not deny that he liked the sound of it. Percy di Angelo. It had a nice ring to it and that blush suited the boy.

“ _Very_ nice meeting you, Percy di Angelo”, smirked Nico teasingly, darkening Percy's blush.

Yes, that boy would be  _his_ . He was too delicious an opportunity to pass. There was no way he would let that boy leave this house again; heck, he wouldn't want that boy to leave his bedroom ever again once the cutey would enter it. Giving the two teens his most charming smile, he let them in.

 

/break\

 

Percy frowned as he stared at the big castle-thing that was supposed to be a house. Its doors alone were intimidating, with skull-like doorknockers with eyes that looked extremely like real rubies. This place screamed filthy rich and Percy didn't like it any. He hated it, it made him feel small and poor again, something he hadn't felt since his cursed stepfather had died and his mother had finally gotten to fulfill her dreams of becoming a published novelist, not world famous, but it had been enough to get out of that rat-hole of a flat they had lived in with Gabe, allowing Sally to move to Terrapolis and pay for a private school for Percy. They were normal, middle class, but happy. Very happy. But seeing this pompous house, it made him feel like the little kid wearing the old clothes of the neighbor's son and even having to give his lunch money to his gambling stepfather. It made him feel insecure, lonely and small again. It _intimidated_ him and he hated feeling that way, it was why he had started training, became a strong swordsman and fighter, so he would never be inferior to someone like his stepfather or anyone else ever again.

“Breath, Percy”, whispered Annabeth softly, grabbing his hand reassuringly. “All's alright, breath.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hadn't had a panic attack since his stepfather had died, everything had gotten so much better since then. But now, for the first time since his mother had become successful, he was faced with a real social gap between himself and someone else, one where he was on the losing end. Returning Annabeth's grip, he held onto her. She was his anchor, she distracted him from his panic attacks since their school days. While being on boarding school, his mom couldn't be there for him, but Annabeth was. She always protected him, helped him with his studies, without her he would have failed so many classes. She was like the protective big sister he never had – and wasn't that something you shouldn't be thinking about your  _girlfriend_ ?

“You two love birds just going to stand there, holding hands, or is there something you want?”

Percy glared, even with closed eyes. The owner, huh? Someone living in a place like this must be some rich brat, because he didn't sound much older than them. He even sounded arrogant. There was no way Percy would be moving in here, he'd rather stay with his mom some longer anyway.

“Yes. We'd like to see the rooms? I'm Annabeth Chase, I called earlier. Thanks for having us.”

As Percy opened his eyes, he was determined to not like the owner of this place. But his eyes nearly bulged out as he stared at the man opposite him. Olive skin was tightly wrapped around muscles, nice muscles. The tall, probably Italian, boy was only wearing black, tight jeans, sweat running down his body, along those very much appreciated abs. Chiding his stubborn eyes, he re-directed their focus to the guy's face. Which proved to be a mistake. Deep, dark eyes, nearly endlessly deep and dark even, stared at him slightly amused, a grin being aimed his way that would have taken his breath away if that wouldn't already have been done by the rest of the guy. A little longer, ebony-dark hair clung to the other boy's face, wet with sweat. If that boy would, just exactly like that, advertise for... for sport, or anything actually, Percy would do it, or buy it, or anything that guy would want from him. He gulped hard. There was no way he would not live here.

“I'm Nico di Angelo, nice meeting you personally”, smiled the handsome Italian charmingly, shaking Annabeth's hand before turning to Percy expectantly. “And you are...?”

“Percy di Angelo”, blurted Percy out before blushing furiously and staring wide-eyed as Annabeth and Nico started laughing. “Jackson. Percy Jackson. My name is Jackson, yours is di Angelo, I just... I'm having my head up in the clouds again. Sorry.”

Smirking to himself amused, Nico grabbed Percy's hand and shook it with those strong, big hands of his, which did not help Percy's blush dying down. “ _Very_ nice meeting you, Percy di Angelo.”

Percy glared at the teasing grin from the Italian and the elbow from his girlfriend that hit his ribs. The handsome Nico (he would stick with that) led them through a very old-fashioned hall, with high walls and all those tiny little carved nonsenses Annabeth swooned over when it came to old houses. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, tall and broad mirrors in golden frames stared at them from the sides. Most stuff looked as though time had stopped mid eighteenth century, which made the things from this century look really out of place. Like the cozy, big couch in front of the biggest flat-screen Percy had ever seen. The couple laying cuddled together in front of the TV didn't even pay them any mind. Percy grew eager to see the rooms.

“How many rooms are there? And is there still one free?”, asked Percy curiously.

“Couples are not allowed to room together”, grunted the Asian-looking guy from the couch.

“Okay”, nodded Percy thoughtful. “Then is there enough room for both of us left here?”

“There are four bedrooms. One is taken by my sister Hazel”, started Nico to reply and pointed at the golden-eyed girl on the couch. “And her roommate Reyna, who is currently... I have no idea, somewhere on the property, you will meet her later. Another one is taken by Frank. You can chose to either room with Frank or take an empty room and wait for who is yet to come, Percy.”

The Asian, most likely Frank as Percy assumed, ruffled his hair and looked at them sleepily. The girl next to him grinned amused and waved at them, tilting her head thoughtful.

“My advice: Take the empty room. Frank snores like a bear”, giggled Hazel teasingly.

“Could we see the rooms first?”, asked Annabeth a little timidly.

She was not amused that she couldn't room with Percy. It worried her how close to a panic attack he had been outside the house. What if he had one during a night? She needed to be close to him to help him. He was all she had, her whole family was living on the other end of the continent, he was all the family she got here. If the panic attacks would return, she couldn't let him endure them alone.

“Sorry, I think she's having a bad day”, mumbled Percy and elbowed her. “She's normally not that rude. But I think staying with my mom's is getting onto her nerve.”

“Don't be ridiculous. Your mom is the nicest person on this planet”, grunted Annabeth.

“Your mom?”, asked the Italian a little too intrigued for Annabeth's taste. “You said your name is Jackson. Don't tell me your mom is Professor Jackson?”

“Yes!”, nodded Percy with those proud, sparkling eyes he always got when talking about his mom.

Annabeth glared as Nico led them upstairs. The Italian was paying too much attention to Percy for her taste. The odd thing about this was that she didn't feel jealous or threatened by his interest in her boyfriend, but rather protective of Percy. Something that had bothered her for a couple of weeks now, ever since she remembered having those odd dreams. Her strong, romantic feelings for Percy, those that she remembered as clearly as her happy childhood in San Francisco with her brothers and parents, had faded to a family bond, much more like the protective feelings she had toward her younger brothers. Those thoughts were something to dwell over in a moment of peace and solitude, for now she needed to watch out for that sleek Italian so he wouldn't abuse Percy's naive and trustful nature for his own needs. Annabeth glared at Nico's hand on Percy's lower back as he was showing them one of the empty bedrooms. She just knew that Percy wouldn't notice such things as what they were; blatant and obvious flirting. A gesture of possessiveness. Huffing loudly, she pushed past them and wrapped one arm around Percy's waist. Two could play that game.

“The rooms are pretty”, grinned Percy, laying his arm automatically around her shoulders. “I like it. And look, this one has a view on a pond. There is a pond on this property!”

“If you spurt even one lame _Doctor Who_ reference about it, we are out of here”, warned Annabeth with a deadpan, earning her one of Percy's adorable pouts that were oh so hard to deny. “But yes, the rooms are very good. Spacious, with possibilities. And I love the architecture. This house is stunning, I could spend hours studying it.”

“I do have many notes on its history, if you're interested in these kind of things”, offered Nico.

She saw it for what it was. A peace-offering because he had just flirted with her boyfriend. At least he wasn't dumb, that was a plus for him. But there was no way she would leave him out of sight.

“You said four rooms earlier, but also that two are empty, one is taken by your sister and the other by her boyfriend. Where is your room, or do you pick last?”, asked Annabeth sharply.

She didn't make it a secret what she truly was asking, well at least not to Nico. Percy on the other hand had that slightly confused puppy look. The Italian straightened some under her glare.

“I am living in the master bedroom. Since this is my house, I take the liberty of not sharing what has been my room for years now”, answered Nico shortly. “It's the room at the end of the hall, actually right next to this one. My sister's room is opposite this and the other empty room is right next to this room too, if you'd like to... be close to your boyfriend.”

The look in his eyes was a silent challenge:  _If you think you can protect your boyfriend from me_ . Why did this house have to be so perfect? She couldn't live there, couldn't allow her kind-hearted Percy who always only saw the good in people to live under the same roof as this predator who was practically painting a target onto the back of Percy's jeans.

“That sounds lovely”, smiled Annabeth charmingly. “But I think we have to decline. We'd rather stay with Sally for a little while longer and keep looking for... something different.”

“What?”, blinked Percy stunned and turned to stare at her. “No. You're the one that wanted to get out of there, you're the one who just fell in love with this house. You're not getting me out of here again! This house has a _pond_ , Annabeth! Are you even aware of how awesome that is – not just for the sake of making stupid _Doctor Who_ references to my mom when I tell her about it – but because it means I can swim? You know I want to major in sports, in swimming! This way, I wouldn't have to visit the campus all the time to train! Besides, those rooms rock!”

“We also have an indoor pool, if you'd like to see it?”, offered Nico with a victorious smirk.

It took Annabeth one look into Percy's eyes and she knew she had lost this battle. His eyes lit up like the sea when the sun rose above it in the morning, content and promising. And then he used the look on her. The Look. The one where his naturally big eyes turned even larger, his pupils widening, his plumb, rosy lower lip being pushed forward and quivering slightly. Urgh, she hated the Look and he knew it. He always used it against her when they were having an argument. Which always resulted in him winning, because – and she had her mind set on studying this phenomenon some day – it was physically impossible to deny Percy anything when he was looking like that.

“Fine”, sighed Annabeth annoyed, glaring at Nico and pointing a finger at Percy. “But you are going to carry all my stuff, Perseus! Just so you know it.”

“Don't call me that!”, hissed Percy embarrassed and blushed.

“Perseus?”, repeated Nico intrigued, cocking his head. “A very... strong and fitted name.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes as Percy's blush deepened. This would be a very long semester...


	3. Rooming Arrangements Part II

_Chapter 3: Rooming Arrangements Part II_

 

Percy smiled pleased as he stretched on the broad, comfortable bed. This was nice, very nice indeed. Perhaps he could accept this whole rich brat thing, what with living with the rich brat. It was his first morning in the di Angelo mansion and so far, Percy was comfortable. Then again, so far he didn't have a roommate. He could just hope whoever would share the room with him wasn't a snorer or someone who liked to stay up long into the night.

“Perseus? Are you awake?”, asked the way too sultry voice of the house's owner.

Flushing just the tiniest bit, Percy stretched so he was facing the handsome Italian. “Percy.”

“Yesterday with the last name, today with the first name? You got it with those names”, chuckled Nico amused as he leaned against the door frame. “Maybe I should get us name-tags.”

“No”, huffed Percy and climbed out of the bed. “My name. It's Percy. No one calls me Perseus.”

And the way Nico pronounced his name was doing very strange things to him. Yesterday had already done enough to him as it was. Never before had he felt that drawn to anyone. The feeling Nico's presence had given him was as though they had known each other for years. Being close to the Italian was safe and comfortable, as though he was with someone who would stop the world to protect him. That was a feeling Percy really enjoyed. But on the same time, he wanted it gone. When first laying eyes on Nico, it was overwhelming and wonderful, but that had been before he got more settled. After dropping his stuff in his room, eating dinner with Annabeth, Nico, Reyna, Hazel and Frank, he got to get some solitude in his own room. Falling asleep in his own bed, he got the chance to sort his mind. The proximity to Nico had clouded his head at first, but now he thought it through. This was crazy, completely crazy. He was with Annabeth, he shouldn't feel that way about anyone else aside from her. Especially because he couldn't recall his feelings for Annabeth to ever be that intense. He had spend practically the whole night laying awake, thinking about this disaster. Even though he _really_ wanted Nico, he would never hurt Annabeth like that. And this had all come too sudden and fast anyway, he only just met Nico yesterday. This feeling of being connected to Nico was too intense for Percy to handle. He didn't do good with such things.

“That is too bad. It's such a beautiful name, after all”, smiled Nico charmingly.

Behind the smile, Nico was frowning. He had the boy swooning yesterday, why would the pretty boy now be so distant? Yesterday, it had felt as though Percy was meant to be his, as though the pretty boy too had felt that way. Now Percy was giving him that polite smile, not the mesmerizing, honestly glowing one he had gotten yesterday. Extending his hand for the green-eyed boy, Nico decided that he wouldn't let this stand like that. Percy Jackson would be his, come what may, because Nico knew for sure Percy was the boy of Nico's dreams. Literally so. He was a hundred percent sure that this was the Percy he had woken up calling for for weeks now. How so, he had no idea. Perhaps he had seen Percy's photo in Professor Jackson's office before, maybe she had mentioned his name and he had picked it up subconsciously. He really didn't know, all he knew was that his subconsciousness was set on making this boy his.

“Where do you want to take me?”, frowned Percy as he took the extended hand.

Everywhere. Starting with his own bed. Shaking his head, Nico tried to get rid of his raging teenage hormones. That was not how Percy had meant it, obviously. Giving the other another smile and running his thumb over the soft back of Percy's hand, he led the boy out of the room.

“I figured you may enjoy a swim before breakfast. I wanted to show you the pool”, replied Nico.

“Oh!”, exclaimed Percy with sparkling eyes. “Yes, please!”

Smirking victoriously, Nico accompanied his new housemate through the still silent house. It was barely past five in the morning, he had made sure to see Annabeth still asleep. Even Reyna was still snoring. They were practically alone at the moment.

 

/break\

 

“Don't you think we're a little... early? I mean, who is awake at such an ungodly hour?”, frowned Piper as she looked around. “Maybe we should go and check the city out first...”

“Piper”, grunted the blonde next to her exhausted and annoyed. “It's six in the morning, I haven't slept at all because we spend the whole night being on our way to the airport, at the airport and on a very obnoxious flight. I just want to crash face first into a pillow, so I am currently praying this place is for real. I'm not going to carry our luggage around town just so we don't disturb anyone.”

The native American flushed slightly as she looked over at her boyfriend. He was packed with all of their luggage after all, while all she was carrying was a half-asleep Latino. Leo had slept like a kitten during the flight and they had a hard time pulling him out of the airplane to begin with. Since then, he had his arms wrapped around Piper's neck and was half snoozing on her shoulder, more sleep-walking than anything. It was a good thing Jason was strong and scarcely complained.

“You're right, you're right”, smiled Piper sheepishly.

With one arm wrapped around Leo's waist to keep him from falling face-first into the roses, she rang the door bell with the other. After no immediate answer, she rang again. And again.

 

/break\

 

Frank groaned annoyed as he tried to hide his head beneath his pillow. But the buzzing just wouldn't stop. Who in their right mind would be bugging them at this unholy hour? After the fifth buzz, he decided to take care of the problem himself. If it were some stupid Jehovah witnesses, he would rip them apart right away. Only in his boxer-shorts (the ones with tiny burning hearts that Hazel had bought him to tease him) and the large shirt that was saying 'I'm an animal in bed' (also a gift from Hazel), he came to stand in front of the main door, opening it wide and glaring annoyed.

“Yes?”, grunted Frank ruffly, running his fingers over his buzz-cut.

“Frank?”, grunted Jason back, blinking surprised. “Hi. Haven't seen you in ages.”

Blinking a couple of times, Frank stared at the blonde until it dawned on him. “Jason! Awesome of you to drop by, but why in the world during this time of day?”

“We're here for the rooms. Funny seeing you here”, grinned the blonde, high-fiving Frank.

“You say that now. You'll be surprised once you're inside”, snorted Frank amused. “When Hazel and I moved in two days ago, Reyna was already living here. She'll be really happy to see you!”

“Wait”, interrupted the native American unimpressed. “Reyna, as in the ex-girlfriend from his old high school? That Reyna?”

Frank stared confused at the pretty girl with the bad haircut. Jason used to attend Jupiter High School with Frank, Hazel and Reyna, but the year before graduation, Jason had moved away. They all hadn't heard from him for months, which had been especially painful for Reyna, who used to be his girlfriend. The two of them had been the golden couple, leaders of their school so to speak.

“Uh... Frank's an old friend from my old high school”, mumbled Jason, oddly flustered since the mention of Reyna. “Frank, those are my girlfriend Piper and my best friend Leo, from the high school that I got transferred to. Look, we've had a long flight and all and I'm tired... Would you mind helping us here a bit? Preferably, help us to a room with a bed.”

“Yes, if you could help _me_ out, that would be great. Leo's getting heavy”, smiled Piper.

She wasn't his type, but something about the tone of her voice made it pretty hard to disobey her. Grunting with a slow nod, Frank simply took the half-asleep boy from the girl's side, lifting him up bridal style. Blinking a few times, he stared down into the peacefully sleeping face of a cute Latino imp. Frowning confused at how familiar that sounded, Frank turned around back inside.

“Follow me”, yawned the Canadian, cradling the still sleeping boy closer. “But all rooms are already booked with at least one. I have a bed free in my room, there's one free with Percy and one with Annabeth. You're... three. Huh. Fits. Don't sweat it, couples aren't allowed to room together anyway, so no need to frown. You can stay with Annabeth, she's pretty nice. Moved in yesterday with her own boyfriend. But I guess they're still all sleeping.”

Piper huffed as she shouldered half of their luggage and followed the broad Asian guy, who was carrying Leo as though the Latino wasn't weighting any. Which he didn't. The kid was a feather weight, had always been. Her bright eyes took the amazing mansion in curiously, mesmerized by its beauty and the many architectural details. It was gorgeous and she really could see herself living there. Half way through the halls, with the stairs in view, they nearly collided with two half-naked, wet young men. The two stared at them curiously.

 

/break\

 

This could certainly become Nico's new favorite pastime. Watching Percy swim. The way his lean muscles flexed under the precise and fast movement, how in sync he looked with the water. Nico himself had given up pretty fast. He had never been much of a swimmer, but drifting around next to the pretty boy was pleasant enough. After an hour of watching Percy, Nico grew hungry. Not for Percy, he had been hungry for that since scratch one, but for breakfast.

“What do you say? Breakfast and then I'll show you around the property?”, offered Nico.

“Breakfast sounds good”, panted Percy breathlessly as he climbed out of the water.

He took the black towel from Nico, sighing heavenly at the soft feeling. Rubbing himself dry, Percy sneaked a couple of glances at the nicely sculpted body of the Italian. The desire to lick those abs was astonishing and urgent. Something like that had never overwhelmed Percy before. He was a shy boy, he still blushed every time he was alone with his girlfriend. They had only kissed so far, even though they were dating for nearly a year now. But those... desires. Did that mean that he was gay? That he had interpreted too much into his feelings for Annabeth, even though he never actually bodily desired her. He had never even thought about taking the initiative and having sex with her. Actually, that thought made his nose wrinkle. Sex with Annabeth would be like sex with his mom – they were the two people he trusted the most, the ones who always took care of him, they were his _family_. That was just a big no-no. Though that made him question... why was he dating Annabeth?

“Are you okay, you turned an odd shade of green just there?”, frowned Nico worried.

“Huh?”, blinked Percy not very intelligent. “Oh. Um. Yeah. Just... _really_ hungry.”

“Well then, what would you like?”, smiled Nico, his hand sliding down to rest on Percy's lower back. “I wouldn't want you to faint out of hunger.”

“Don't be such a charmer”, huffed Percy and rolled his eyes. “I won't swoon over you and fall down onto my knees just because of that gorgeous smile of yours.”

“You think my smile is gorgeous?”, smirked the Italian wickedly.

“You are a horrible human being”, groaned Percy as they walked up the stairs. “I just...”

He froze slightly as they nearly collided with three and a half others. Frank had already one foot on the first stair, holding a petite boy bridal style. A native American girl followed, covered completely in suit cases and bags, together with a blonde muscular guy with a scar on his lips.

“Uhm... I'm the owner of the place. Nico. And who are you?”, grunted Nico with a frown.

He still had his arm wrapped around Percy's waist, the touch warm and nearly pulsing through Percy's being. Especially so as Nico pulled him some closer, in a nearly protective gesture. How adorable, thought Percy as he rolled his eyes.

“Jason went to school with Hazel and me”, huffed Frank, shifting the boy in his arms.

The nod in the blonde's direction told Nico who this Jason was. His eyes narrowed at the blonde Adonis. There were exactly three free beds. That girl would go with Annabeth, no other way. But there was no way in hell Nico would let that Surfer Ken room with Percy so he could show off his muscles in front of Percy. That was not going to happen.

“Well, if you two already know each other, you certainly would like to room together”, smiled Nico, leading Percy up the stairs, followed by the other three. “Percy, would you accompany Frank to your room so he can drop your new roommate off?”

“We didn't even agree to stay here yet”, frowned Piper annoyed.

She didn't like the notion of moving in with her boyfriend's ex. The Italian boy turned back to them to smile charmingly. The guy was not her type. Too smooth. She was the one for the smooth-talking, didn't need a boy to do her job there. And the other half-naked boy? Looked like a skater boy, with a little longer hair, mischievous grin and eyes as though he was already planning something that would certainly get him in trouble. And he was too small for her taste. No, Piper preferred the righteous gorgeous blondes there.

“Your friend is asleep and judging by the fact that Frank is carrying him around, I doubt you've contemplated _waking_ him”, huffed Nico amused. “And I also doubt you want to make Frank carry the boy until he wakes up. So why not putting him into a bed to sleep?”

 

/break\

 

Frank frowned displeased as he sat at the bed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Percy getting changed behind the shelf. But he was more focused on the kid in front of him. Never before had he seen a boy look more impish. With that cheeky grin (even in his sleep!), the elvish features and pointy ears. It was kind of adorable, but also very unsettling. And Frank didn't like unsettling.

“So... is he very interesting to watch?”, teased Percy as he sat down next to Frank.

“No”, huffed the Canadian, crossing his arms over his chest. “He just... looks like an imp.”

“Huh. You're right”, blinked Percy curiously, poking the boy's cheek. “Like one of Santa's elves.”

Grunting slightly, Frank nodded. The annoying thing about this however was that the imp was cute. It certainly wasn't that he found the boy cute, it was more like a fact and who was Frank to argue with facts? Frank also wasn't watching this boy because he was cute, but because he was the imp. The only imp the Canadian had ever seen was the one in his dreams, the one surrounded by fire. What if it meant something? What if _this_ imp would catch fire? Frank wouldn't let such a thing happen, to no one. So, the logical conclusion to him was to watch over the imp, keep him safe.

 

/break\

 

A loud crash was what woke Annabeth in the morning. Not what she had expected on her first morning in her new home. She was sure it was Nico, just to bug her. Opening her eyes, she glared at the interrupter of her sleep. Blinking a couple of times doe-eyed, she stared at the boyish beauty in front of her. A native American girl with choppy hair was currently standing on her toes, stretching to put something onto the top shelf, the plain shirt that was tied together under her chest pushed the white muscle shirt up enough to show off a lean stomach. And those short jeans shorts revealed very nice and long legs. This was what modern day Pocahontas would look like. A tough beauty, who looked ready to kick ass. Annabeth gave a little yelp as she stared at the very much real flesh version of her favorite Disney princess (even though Percy always claimed it to be Belle).

“Oh”, blinked the Disney princess as she turned around. “Did I wake you? I'm so sorry.”

“No. It's alright”, smiled Annabeth sheepishly and stared at the clock. “I always get up at... six thirty on a Saturday. The day is practically over after seven, after all.”

“No”, laughed the native American and shook her head. “No one should be up at that early time. But my friends and I, our flight was... very early. I'm Piper McLean, nice meeting you.”

“Annabeth...”, blinked Annabeth, slowly shaking the offered hand. “Chase. Annabeth Chase, that is. Sorry, it's still a little early for my brain to work...”

“That is... that's a beautiful name. For a beautiful girl”, grinned the native American as they shook hands. “I'm looking forward to rooming with you. I hope we'll get along great.”

“As long as you don't plan on throwing books around every morning”, smiled Annabeth back.

 

/break\

 

Piper was cursing beneath her breath as she tried to put her stuff away without making a sound. It was hard to say no to this house, so her and Jason had already agreed to Nico's offer. It was too good an opportunity to pass. And Leo was still out cold. Oh, that poor thing was going to feel like Sleeping Beauty when waking up in this palace. She frowned slightly as she remembered the way that big guy had carried Leo so effortlessly. Was this it? Would her little Leo finally find a knight in shining armor for himself? So deep in thoughts, the book accidentally slipped out of her hand and hit the ground with a loud thud. Damn. She tried to be stealthy to not wake her new roommate, because if she was going to live here for four years to finish her Bachelor, she did not need to be on her roommate's bad side. Picking the book up again, she put it where it was supposed to belong. Just then, she could hear a low whimpered sound. Turning to her roommate, she looked deep into eyes grayer than the sky during a storm, blonde curls falling into her face. Quite mesmerizing.

“Oh”, blinked Piper wide-eyed . “Did I wake you? I'm so sorry.”

“No. It's alright”, smiled the pretty blonde thing as she stood up to shake Piper's hand. “I always get up at... six thirty on a Saturday. The day is practically over after seven, after all.”

“No”, laughed Piper while shaking her head. “No one should be up at that early time. But my friends and I, our flight was... very early. I'm Piper McLean, nice meeting you.”

And how nice it really was. The girl probably hadn't expected to have someone in her room when she woke up, because she was only wearing Wonder Woman panties and a push-up bra. A gray push-up bra that was really pushing much up there. Piper took a moment to appreciate it fully. Her stomach was lean with that nice champagne dip between the quite voluminous boobs and the belly button, but also well-trained as thought she did know how to do her situps. Long, golden curls were falling over the shorter girl's shoulders, framing her breasts. Piper liked the gorgeous blondes.

“Annabeth... Chase. Annabeth Chase, that is. Sorry, it's still a little early for my brain to work...”

“That is... that's a beautiful name. For a beautiful girl”, grinned Piper, shaking Annabeth's hand. “I'm looking forward to rooming with you. I hope we'll get along great.”

“As long as you don't plan on throwing books around every morning”, smiled the blonde.

 

/break\

 

Nico was dressed in black pants and a half-opened black dress-shirt as he stood at the window of his room, staring outside thoughtful. This had fit a little too perfect for his taste. Four rooms, eight roommates. And the last three that had arrived, two boys and a girl just as the available beds. Nico was not one to believe in happy coincidences. Glaring up into the stormy sky, he nearly expected the clouds to reply, as though someone was supposed to sit up there.

“Nico? Frank and I made breakfast... you want to join us and Jason?”, asked Percy's soft voice as the boy sneaked into the room. “Wow. I get why you don't want to share _that_ room.”

“I would share it with you”, smirked Nico as he turned around.

“But you... don't have a second bed here”, frowned Percy confused.

“Exactly my point, pretty boy”, chuckled Nico amused as he passed the now flushed teen.


	4. Breakfast at Nico's

_Chapter 4: Breakfast at Nico's_

 

Nails were digging hard into his knees as Jason sat as rigid at the breakfast table as possible. The other boy he had made breakfast with, Percy, was still skipping through the kitchen, finishing the scrambling eggs. Annabeth and Piper were setting the table together and if Jason would have half a mind for it, he would question why Piper kept staring at the blonde so intensely. But he was too occupied by his own thoughts. Reyna was here. Reyna. His ex-girlfriend. He hadn't seen her in... long. He actually didn't even remember why he never called her again, but somehow after he got transferred to the school Leo and Piper were attending, he nearly forgot about her. The thought send a guilty pain through his guts. How could he have ever forgotten about her? The two had shared so many years as friends and then too little time as lovers with each other. Looking at Piper for the first time had been as though someone had cast a spell on him, had planted the idea of loving her in his mind. But now, getting ready to face Reyna and her wrath (which he completely deserved and he was aware of that), he felt himself growing as giddy as he hadn't in a very long time.

“Is he always that... silent...?”, frowned Percy skeptically.

“He's the silent, broody hero type. Looks like the Green Arrow, has the morals of Superman and the broodiness of Batman”, snorted Piper in reply as she divided the bacon by nine.

“Didn't you want to get Nico?”, frowned Annabeth confused, cocking one eyebrow.

“I—I did”, nodded Percy slowly, his cheeks painted the faintest pink. “He said he'd wake Reyna and Hazel. And he'd get Frank and Leo...”

 

/break\

 

Nico frowned as he leaned against the door-frame, his arms crossed over his chest. His sister was sitting on her bed, ruffling her hair and yawning widely. She had never really been an early bird. Her roommate however was already half-way dressed, her hair put up into a high pony tail, a black tank-top and dark jogging pants complimenting her skin and her pitch-black eyes.

“Why are you still standing there? Can't you stalk a pretty boy or anything?”, grunted Reyna with one unimpressed eyebrow raised. “Otherwise I won't believe you this whole 'I'm gay'-thing.”

“Your ex-boyfriend is making breakfast”, replied Nico softly.

He watched how the Puerto Rican froze. Hazel was blinking blearily at her brother, then turning to look at Reyna confused. It was too early in the morning for her to work properly.

“H—He's here? Not to visit, I assume...?”, asked Reyna slowly, cautiously.

“No. Jason and two... friends moved in about an hour ago... And when I say two friends, I mean a friend and a girlfriend”, said Nico steadily, watching Reyna for a reaction.

“I'm fine”, huffed Reyna as she noticed his looks. “Don't stare.”

“Okay”, nodded Nico, lifting his hands in surrender. “Shall we go to breakfast then?”

“No”, grunted Reyna with a glare and walked over to her closet. “I need to get dressed.”

“You are dressed, Reyna”, yawned Hazel confused.

Nico rolled his eyes at his sister and walked over to Reyna. “She's dressed in jogging pants and a tank top. Now we'll find her something so drop-dead gorgeous that her ex will regret ever breaking up with her and that new girlfriend will turn green in jealousy.”

The Puerto Rican smiled at Nico a little grateful as he started to go through her clothes. “If you find me something nice now, I may believe that you're actually gay.”

“You will only believe that when you walk in on me fucking Percy...”, muttered Nico.

“I'm not good with names, but wasn't Percy the cute guy with the blonde girlfriend?”

“Not if I can change that”, smirked the Italian, pulling a short, black dress out. “That's nice.”

“Uh... Breakfast...?”, asked Hazel slowly.

“Downstairs”, replied her brother. “But get your boyfriend first. He's in Percy's room.”

“Why's he in Percy's room...?”, frowned Hazel as she put something casual on.

“Don't ask me”, grunted Nico and shrugged. “He's with Percy's new roommate.”

Nodding slowly, Hazel left her bedroom to leave Nico and Reyna to their little make-over-project. Instead she headed over to Percy's room to see what held her boyfriend there. Without knocking, she opened the door to enter. The first thing she actually saw was her boyfriend. The Canadian was sitting on one of the beds, staring intensely at the content.

“Frank? I'm hungry. I want breakfast. Come downstairs”, demanded Hazel exhausted.

“Sh. You'll wake him”, hissed Frank a little irritated.

“Wake who?”, frowned Hazel confused and walked over to her big guy.

“The imp”, frowned Frank, turning to stare at her. “Jason and his girlfriend brought him with them. Look. He _is_ an imp. He's been sleeping since they arrived though...”

As she stepped up to the bed, she saw a boy sleeping in it. Caramel skin, dark thick curls, a certain mischievousness to himself even in his sleep. He looked frail, not muscular or strong, but kind of cute. Tilting her head curiously, she knelt down on front of the bed to take a closer look.

“He does look like an imp, a little...”, hummed Hazel with a nod. “But that doesn't mean...”

“It does”, protested Frank with a glare. “It's him! I just... I can feel it. It's him. He's the imp of my dreams. The imp that catches fire. I can't leave his side. What if he'll catch fire and die?”

“Frank”, started Hazel softly and turned to her boyfriend. “Calm down. He's a human, not an imp. He looks impish, yes. But that doesn't make him an imp. And even if he were, imps don't just randomly burst into flames, do they? This boy, he is not just going to burst into flames, Frank.”

“I—I know”, sighed Frank, annoyed at himself and frustrated. “I just... That dream. I know dreams don't just come true, but I still feel as though there is a hint of truth in it and if that really is the case, then I won't let it happen. I don't know the guy, but I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt like that or dieing. He's... living here now, right? Then I want to make sure. I... sound like a madman...”

“Frank”, smiled Hazel softly, tilting her head as she grabbed his hands. “It's alright. I may not believe this, but it means a lot to you. If I'm right, then there won't be a problem anyway. And if you're right, then I'd be glad too to watch out for the boy. Wouldn't want anyone to die, mh?”

“Y—You mean...”, blinked the Canadian surprised.

“I'll help you”, grinned his girlfriend and leaned in to peck his lips. “We'll just keep all matches out of his reach and make sure the kid doesn't spontaneously catch fire.”

“Thanks, Haze. You're really the most awesome girlfriend on this planet”, grinned Frank happily.

He had started feeling weird about this. It was ridiculous. Just because he had been dreaming about a fire catching imp didn't mean the boy he had just met who happened to look kind of impish would die in a fire. But knowing that didn't make the feeling go away. And making sure the boy stayed clear of anything burning or firey wouldn't hurt, right?

“I know”, smirked Hazel teasingly as she turned back to the Latino. “But I'm still hungry. So let's wake the imp so we can go downstairs and have breakfast, okay?”

“Do we have to wake him?”, frowned Frank, joining his girlfriend on the ground to stare into the peacefully sleeping face. “He looks so content and happy... I don't want to disturb him.”

Smiling at Frank, Hazel folded her hands on the mattress and rested her chin on them, still looking at the Latino. “Good morning, sweetheart. Breakfast is ready, you need to wake up.”

Frank glared slightly at the 'sweetheart'. But then again, they didn't know the imp's name and calling him an imp would probably be impolite. The sweetheart slowly woke up, soft, earthy brown eyes blinked open, staring innocently up at them for a moment. Cocking his head some, the Latino looked them up and down before turning his attention to the room. Once everything was slowly seeping in, the boy sat up and stared wide-eyed around, a little panicked.

“Where am I? Who are you? D—Did you kidnap me?”, asked the Latino, now more panicked.

“Calm down, sweetheart”, smiled Hazel reassuringly, resting one hand on the boy's cheek.

“Right. You were asleep”, nodded Frank thoughtful. “Jason and that girl arrived with you here earlier. You're in Terrapolis. They already signed the contract and everything. You're now officially living here. That's your room. Breakfast is ready, that's why we were supposed to wake you.”

“I'm Hazel, by the way”, interrupted Hazel with a slight glare at her boyfriend. “And that's my boyfriend Frank. What's you name?”

“Leo. I—I'm Leo Valdez”, nodded the Latino a little embarrassed. “Sorry for thinking you're kidnappers or worse... Uh... I'm a really heavy sleeper. Pipes always makes fun of it...”

Running his hand through his curls, Leo blushed brightly. He had so been looking forward to living here and now he had just made a fool of himself in front of his new housemates. Staring up at them from between his lashes, he took another thorough look at them. The girl was probably the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. Long legs, hot curves, chocolate skin, wild, long caramel curls and eyes deeper and more golden than any treasure on the planet. The guy next to her looked as though he was just made to look handsome while standing next to her. The tall, broad type with all those muscles and the strong jaw and the piercing eyes. Together they looked as though they had escaped some underwear advertisements. Leo could just hope that the rest of the household wasn't looking as hot as them, because then the Latino had no chance to compete. He had felt inferior enough with his two best friends, the beauty queen and the blonde jock. But those two right here? Incomparable.

“What is worse than kidnappers?”, asked Hazel with a teasing grin on her face.

Leo's eyes widened more and his blush darkened. Okay, so maybe he had been in the middle of a very nice, dirty dream when he had gotten woken up and seeing those gorgeous people standing in a strange bedroom with Leo laying on the bed had made his brain assume that the next logical thing to follow would be for Leo to get tied down and thoroughly and pleasurably raped by them. He needed to stop watching porn before going to bed.

“You're weird”, grunted Frank, causing Leo to flinch because that was one thing he knew, one thing he had been told often enough. “But it's kind of cute. Now come on, I'm hungry.”

Leo was pretty sure that if it would be physically possible, then his ears would have caught fire at that. No one aside from his late mother and Piper had ever called him cute. Staring a little confused at the couple, Leo was unsure what to do. They were just standing there, looking gorgeous instead of leaving to get breakfast. The golden-eyed girl walked back over to the bed and grabbed Leo's hand, pulling him up and along as they left the bedroom.

“You're slower than Frank in the morning and I wouldn't have thought that to be possible”, commented Hazel with a nearly fond smile. “Are you always like this?”

“No. I'm actually quite the morning person. Always annoys Pipes”, mumbled Leo, busy staring down at Hazel's hand which was still holding onto his. “But the long flight robbed me off my sleep and then coming here and waking up at a completely foreign place... My brain is still trying to compute... Give it some time and maybe a coffee and you'll regret having woken me...”

“Why's that?”, grunted Frank skeptically.

“Jason always says that I'm unbearable in the morning”, grinned Leo sheepishly.

“Aw, I don't think you're capable of ever being unbearable. Adorable things are never unbearable”, commented Hazel critically. “Jason is just cranky in the morning. Has always been.”

Adorable. First cute, now adorable. Leo felt his face heating up again. If they kept doing that, then Leo was sure he would burst into flames from all the heat in his face. Were those two mocking him...? No one has ever been that insistent on saying something good about him, aside from Piper and Jason. Why were those two strangers being so nice to him? They would only get disappointed once they'd get to know him better. No one endured his extremely hyperactive self for long. Piper and Jason were the only ones resistant to it, who could stand him for longer periods of time. And even they enjoyed the solitude of being couple-y and without Leo way more, he knew that...

“Hey sweetheart”, whispered Hazel softly, caressing the back of Leo's hand with her thumb. “You're looking sad. Did you have a bad dream when we woke you? Or are you disappointed that your friends decided to move in here without asking you first?”

“Naw, I'm fine with them deciding stuff, they're good at it”, shrugged Leo, looking around. “Besides, it looks nice here. I think I'll manage.”

“Breakfast. Not stalling”, grunted Frank and grabbed Leo's other hand to pull him along.

The Latino stared once more as he got dragged along by the couple like a disobedient pup on a leash. The way over to the kitchen seemed endless and Leo was overwhelmed as they finally reached the room. It was as spacious as the kitchen in the last orphanage he had stayed, but that had been for mass production. This one though, it was pretty and beautiful. A boy with black hair and sparkling green eyes was filling nine glasses with orange juice. Jason was sitting at the long table, looking like he was in great pain. The reason why he looked like that must have been the two girls on either side of him. One was Piper, the other was a very pretty black-haired girl with long locks and a tight black dress with a deep cut cleavage. Piper and the pretty Puerto Rican were busy glaring at each other over Jason's head while the blonde boy tried to turn invisible. On Piper's other side sat a cute blonde girl with very impressive boobs and stormy-gray eyes. She too was glaring hard, but her target was the hot Italian guy who was leaning against the stove and staring blatantly at the ass of the green-eyed smiley boy.

“Uh... Morning?”, piped Leo softly, looking around a little unsure.

His two friends, the only ones he knew, were already seated next to each other and the seats on their other sides were already taken too. Where was Leo supposed to go now...? The green-eyed boy gave him a dazzling smile and waved before he sat down next to the blonde girl.

“Morning! You must be Leo. I'm your roommate, Percy. That's my girlfriend, Annabeth. And that over there is Reyna. Oh, the guy behind you is Nico, he's actually the owner of the place. And I guess you already met Frank and Hazel”, introduced the green-eyed pretty boy.

The Italian – Nico – gave him a short nod, not even looking at him as he passed the Latino to sit down next to Percy. Very close next to Percy, which caused Percy to blush a little and Annabeth to glare more. Jason dared to look at Leo shortly, but he was too busy being miserable to really pay his best friend much mind. The black-haired beauty seemed completely uninterested in Leo. Great. This felt an awful lot like being taken in by a new foster family, where no family member was really interested in him anyway because he was just the means of getting money from uncle Sam.

“Come on, before the eggs get cold”, grinned Hazel and pulled Leo with her.

She sat down next to Nico and forced Leo to take the seat next to her, while Frank filled the last empty spot, the one between Leo and Reyna. The Latino looked a little confused from one to the other. They were a couple, weren't they? Didn't they want to sit together then? Blinking a few times, he looked at the cup of coffee that was presented to him by Frank.

“Here. Maybe you'll wake up then. You keep spacing out”, grunted the Asian, raising one eyebrow.

“You shouldn't give that to him”, piped Piper in, glaring skeptically. “It's like giving a squirrel crack. Not good. Really not good. And he keeps spacing out because he refused to take his Adderall _again_. He should drink tea instead, if anything.”

“Are you his mother?”, frowned Hazel unimpressed and placed the cup in front of Leo decisive. “I think he's old enough to make his own decisions. If he wants coffee, he can have coffee. What else do you want, sweetheart? Buns or croissants? Or pancakes?”

“I'm fine”, mumbled Leo, cautiously sipping his coffee under the critical and warning glare from Piper (she had already suffered quite often under Leo when he had drank coffee). “I'm not hungry.”

“He doesn't do breakfast”, commented Jason as he slowly poked his scrambled eggs.

Actually, he wasn't feeling very hungry anymore either. Reyna was drop-dead gorgeous. Even more so than he remembered. And now she was sitting right next to him. But Piper was sitting on his other side and she looked really annoyed and angry. He had never wished harder to be invisible.

“How can he not 'do breakfast'?”, snorted Hazel ridiculed and placed an extra serving of bacon together with a couple of pancakes on Leo's plate. “You're thin. Eat up.”

“I'm really not-”, started Leo, a little embarrassed.

“Did it sound like an offer?”, whispered Frank into his ear. “Don't deny her. Believe me, if she's in her bossy mode, do not deny her. It won't end good for you...”

Staring wide-eyed at the strawberry sirup that was slowly spreading over his pancakes, Leo dug in. There was a certain hint of something in Hazel's eyes that told him Frank's words were true.

“So... what are you guys majoring in?”, asked Percy slowly, a little awkward.

The tension in the room was kind of strange. Even Percy could acknowledge that. Jason was looking uncomfortable between Reyna and Piper, who kept glaring at each other. He felt Annabeth's piercing stare going right through his skull. He knew the stare wasn't aimed at him, so he wasn't feeling intimidated by it. Out of strange reasons, Annabeth seemed to really dislike Nico. Percy didn't get it. Nico was nice and charming and really handsome, what was there not to like?

“Medicine”, replied the Italian smoothly.

“Oh? You want to become a doctor?”, blinked Percy giddily.

“No. Pathologist”, smirked Nico with a wicked gleam in his dark eyes.

Percy shuddered at that, it somehow send a shiver down his spine. There was something to Nico, something dark and something that reminded him of death. The job fit.

“Law. People say I'm pretty convincing”, grinned Piper broadly.

“Management”, muttered Jason as he stole a strawberry from his girlfriend.

“Arts and Crafts”, replied Hazel and Leo nearly at once, just to look at each other surprised.

“I'm in this for archery. Sport”, grunted Frank, looking from Hazel to Leo and back.

“Oh, me too”, grinned Percy broadly. “Not for archery, but sport, yeah. Swords and swimming.”

“Sword-fight”, grunted Reyna, looking Percy critically up and down. “This will be interesting.”

“Why?”, frowned Percy confused and tilted his head, chewing his bacon.

“Because I'm pretty sure I'm going to kick your ass”, smirked the black-haired girl confidently.

“Don't judge me before you've crossed swords with me”, warned Percy with a smirk of his own.

“I, for my part, am here for the literature major”, interrupted Annabeth with one raised eyebrow.

“With Professor Blofis?”, frowned Nico unimpressed. “Hoping for good grades there?”

“I don't need Sally's sympathy to pass a class”, grunted Annabeth with a glare.

“Sally?”, asked Leo with his mouth full.

“The literature professor, Sally Blofis. She's my mom”, grinned Percy broadly and proudly.

“And I'm his girlfriend”, added Annabeth. “That's what Nico wanted to get at.”

Leo started to feel uncomfortable again as he saw the way Annabeth and Nico wanted to kill each other will glares. He decided to focus on his pancakes instead and act as though he wasn't there. Years in foster care had given him the opportunity to perfect that art.

“Well, comes tomorrow, we're all students, I guess”, smiled Percy softly, trying to lighten the mood.

“How is the campus, anyway?”, frowned Reyna, glancing at Jason from the corner of her eyes.

“Big and awesome”, nodded Percy with a grin. “I could show you around. Have been here plenty of times already because of my mom. Who's in?”

Reyna shrugged and nodded. She had noticed the way Nico had stared at Percy's ass earlier. It seemed the guy she had deemed her new gay best friend had set target. It was time to get to know the target a little closer. And a distraction from Jason and his new girlfriend would be nice.

“I'd love for you and Nico to give me a tour of the campus and the city”, smiled Reyna.

Today was going to be... adventurous. Jason could feel it in his guts. He was not going to attend anything with Reyna, not with Piper around. Living here would prove to be awkward enough.


	5. Sets of Three

_Chapter 5: Sets of Three_

 

It was good that Reyna was gone. Not gone, but not here. As in, not in the same room as Jason. Her icy beauty had always distracted him. She was strict and serious, but just as clever and beautiful. He knew why he had fallen in love with her in the first place, but he seemed unable to remember why he had abandoned her like that. Groaning frustrated, he hid his face beneath his pillow.

“You're behaving like a moping child”, noted his roommate unimpressed. “I don't remember you being that soft. That girl of yours, Paige, she's really getting to you, eh?”

“Piper”, corrected Jason annoyed. “And no, she is not. I mean, of course she is, she's my girlfriend. But it's not due to her that I'm different. It's due to... me... I guess...”

Frank raised one eyebrow at that and cocked his head. The way he remembered Jason from their school time, the blonde was always level-headed and nearly never soft. Not that soft at least.

“Are you _sure_ you're alright, man?”, asked the Canadian softly.

“No”, huffed Jason and turned onto his back. “I just didn't expect to see _her_ here.”

“Yeah... I'm feeling bad for you, buddy”, nodded Frank solemnly and patted Jason's back.

“Thanks”, muttered Jason and made a face. “So... what are you going to do today?”

“Nothing much. I thought I'd use the opportunity of Nico being out of the house so I can make out with his sister”, grunted Frank with a glare. “That guy is the worst cock-blocker ever.”

“Well, you're trying to bone his sister. Of course he's being a cock-block”, snorted Jason.

“Why are you even asking?”, wanted the Canadian to know, trying to change the subject.

“Uh, well... I need to sit down and have a conversation with Piper. She hadn't spoken a single word to me ever since she learned that Reyna is living here”, sighed Jason frustrated. “And with Nico, Percy and Reyna being out, I thought you could... entertain Leo for me?”

“Entertain Leo for you?”, repeated Frank in disbelief. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Leo has a bad case of a short attention span. He's adorable and I love him, but I won't be getting any talking done with Piper while he's still around here since me and Piper are the only ones he knows here. He's... a loner. Doesn't trust easily so he doesn't even try making friends most of the time”, started Jason to explain. “But the impression I got during breakfast, I think he... took to you and Hazel. I thought that me and Leo both would benefit from this. I could talk things out with my girlfriend without him butting in and he won't feel neglected and may even make new friends. Leo needs friends. He's the nicest guy I know. Fuck, I feel like I'm arranging a play-date for my best friend... I don't mean it like that, okay? I just... You and Haze, you're great people and I got the feeling you like him, right? He makes for a great friend. He just needs to be persuaded.”

“Sure, okay”, nodded Frank slowly.

“I don't mean to just drop him off with you like a child that needs watching, but—Wait. What did you just say?”, asked Jason surprised and stared at the broad Asian.

“I said okay”, snorted Frank and rolled his eyes. “He seems a bit lonely and lost. Me and Hazel could show him around the property, try coaxing him out of his shell?”

He was a bit surprised as he was suddenly hugged tightly by Jason. Either the cute imp was in reality a real hand full of work, or Jason was seriously desperate about talking to Piper.

 

/break\

 

“You really don't have to do this.”

“But I insist. You have beautiful hair”, grinned the native American, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

The blonde in front of her blushed faintly. Annabeth had wanted to go with Nico, Reyna and Percy, but the three of them had downright disappeared after breakfast and before she had the chance to follow them on her own, Piper had turned those mismatched eyes on her and asked if she may braid Annabeth's hair. Strangely enough, the blonde had not found it in herself to deny Piper. So now she was sitting on her bed, having Piper's quite cunning fingers running through her hair in such a soft and tender way that Annabeth had nearly nodded off once before.

“So... You don't seem to like Reyna?”, asked Annabeth cautiously.

“I do not know her so I don't judge”, muttered Piper, her tone quite hostile. “It's just... She is Jason's ex. And the way he keeps looking at her is... surprisingly intense. It hurts.”

“Understandable”, nodded Annabeth with a soft frown.

“Of course you'd understand”, chuckled Piper darkly.

“What do you mean?”, asked Annabeth with a confused look in her eyes, craning her neck.

“Your boyfriend kept throwing quite the inappropriate looks at someone else too during breakfast.”

“That is none of your business”, grunted Annabeth, now being the one sounding hostile.

“I'm sorry. We only just met, I suppose it's not my place to say such things.”

“No, that's not it”, sighed the blonde and leaned her head back some. “It's just... complicated.”

“Sounds like something only a drink could solve?”, chuckled Piper amused. “How about you and me head into the city tonight to drink? With Hazel and Reyna, just us girls to get to know each other better. After all, we are stuck living together with the boys now.”

“That sounds like a brilliant plan”, nodded Annabeth with a smile.

Piper found herself blushing slightly at that smile, because it lit those stormy-gray eyes up to make them shine nearly silver. Suddenly she found the notion of getting to know Reyna better not as horrible as she had thought. It was a good excuse to get drunk with Annabeth. The girl was looking stunning even in simple clothes, but if the girls would be heading out, surely her beauty would be blinding. It already was, actually. The few braids with the owl feathers made her look wild and somehow as though she was Piper's. The thought send a jolt of surprise arousal through her.

 

/break\

 

“We really shouldn't be doing this.”

“You are a goody-two-shoes, Percy Jackson”, grinned Reyna teasingly.

The green-eyed boy blushed slightly and glared at her as she sneaked through the gates. When Nico and Percy had agreed to show her the university, they had forgotten that it was Sunday and the property was locked up. Now they were breaking into the school. The black-haired girl and the Italian were giving him challenging looks so he found himself following them. They were not a good influence on him, he could already tell. But the grin Nico gave him as he joined them was worth it. The trio headed over the wide park-like space that made up the entrance of the university. Running past the high and broad building, Percy and Nico led Reyna around to the back.

“Where are you going? You said you'd show me the university!”, huffed Reyna.

“You said you're majoring in sport and athleticism, right?”, grinned Percy. “Then let me show you the training hall and the pool and the running side and--”

“I get it!”, interrupted Reyna amused as she watched his eyes sparkle.

The boy was a sports-enthusiast and it was quite adorable. Something else Reyna had noticed about Percy was his constant blushing whenever Nico would look at him in certain ways or touch him just that slightest bit daring. If Percy was the one Nico had picked to be his, then Nico had chosen well.

The trio soon reached a gym with a broad glass front, behind it laid a pool, at least on the first floor. The second, Reyna suspected, were different training rooms. The gym was as big as Reyna's whole old school, it was astonishing. A running track seemed to go around the building once.

“Neat”, nodded Reyna, pressing her nose against the window. “How do we get in?”

“Get in? Isn't it enough that we broke into the school!”, hissed Percy wide-eyed.

“Don't be a spoil-spot, Perseus”, purred Nico lowly, his hand resting on Percy's lower back.

“Don't call me that”, muttered Percy annoyed, yet still he blushed slightly.

A shudder ran down Percy's spine, a pleasant ache for the touch of the Italian. The strong hand on his rather sensitive lower back felt so different from the tender and cautious touches of Annabeth's delicate hands. And Percy found himself preferring this a thousand times.

“Well, either one of you picks a lock or I break a window. I want to go skinny dipping in that pool right now”, declared Reyna with a calculating smirk on her lips. “Come on, boys.”

“No need to pick the lock”, sighed Percy in defeat and pulled a key out from beneath his shirt.

“You... have a key...?”, asked Reyna surprised and stared.

“My mom works at the university”, shrugged Percy and opened the door for them. “She said I should get the chance to always train here, so she made me a key.”

“Not that you would be needing it now”, smirked Nico as he slowly (very, very slowly) pressed past Percy through the door. “You can spar with me anytime in our private training rooms.”

“Those I plan on using too”, nodded Reyna thoughtful. “We could train together too, you know.”

“Yeah, I'd like that”, nodded Percy as he led the way to the pool.

“So... skinny dipping?”, grunted Nico questioningly.

“I don't plan on running around in wet clothes. It's autumn”, grunted Reyna and rolled her eyes. “Besides, I think I'm on the safe side, swimming with two gay guys.”

“I'm not gay!”, exclaimed Percy stunned and flustered. “I have a girlfriend.”

“Of course you do”, smiled Reyna kindly and patted his head as though he was a mere child, not yet capable of understanding what she was saying. “Gosh, you're really adorable, Jackson.”

“Do you plan on talking all day or will you be joining me any time soon?”

Percy turned his attention from glaring at Reyna to... Oha. Gulping hard, Percy tried not to blush or stare. But it was hard, very hard. Just as Nico's abs. The Italian stood in front of them, confidently and proud. And naked. Six-pack, toned chest, dark happy trail, strong legs and between those legs, a nice cock. Not that Percy was checking it out or anything. Or that he knew what a 'nice cock' looked like. It wasn't as though he kept looking at other boys' cocks. Well, sometimes maybe, just to compare and see if he hadn't come too short or anything. But not to see if the cocks were nice. Though they had proven to be pretty nice. Percy froze. Oh fuck. He _was_ gay.

“Either you get naked, or I'll push you in right now”, warned Reyna next to him.

Shaking his head and trying to get that scary thought out of his head, Percy hastily shed his clothes. Reyna grabbed his hand and pulled him along, all three of them jumping into the water.

 

/break\

 

“Where are you guys bringing me? And why? I was just in the middle of a very nice nap.”

“ _You_ have been sleeping enough”, huffed Hazel determined, tugging on Leo's hand. “Now come.”

The Latino blushed as he found himself once again being dragged around by the handsome couple. Jason had practically dropped him off with them earlier and said they wanted to show him around. Why was beyond him though. After all, Nico was out of the house at the moment. And even though Leo knew Frank and Hazel for five hours now, he still had caught on that the two were very much in love and that Nico did his best to cock-block his sister's boyfriend. Breakfast had been really enlightening to Leo. He never socialized very much and by being in the background of things, he had learned to obtain information that way. Observing breakfast had given him quite the insight on his new housemates and their very complicated relationships. He should draw a chart.

“Where are you taking me?”, asked the Latino with one raised eyebrow.

Frank, walking behind them, had a simple answer to that question. Every flat surface available. His eyes were trained on Leo's cute little bum. The delicate Latino was very pleasant to the eye.

“Well, what do you enjoy doing most?”, smiled Hazel kindly. “This property offers everything you could be dreaming of. To Percy, it was the pool. To Annabeth, it was the library. To Reyna, the gym. So tell me, what do you like doing? I'm sure we have something in store for you.”

“I like using my hands...”, started Leo thoughtful.

“You're into hand-jobs?”, frowned Frank confused, tilting his head while staring at Leo's ass.

“What?”, yelped Leo flustered. “N—Not like _that_! I like working with my hands! On machines, or stuff, not on people! I don't—We don't know each other good enough to exchange such things!”

Oh. Frank nodded slowly. It would have surprised him if someone with such a cute ass would rather work with his hands than with that ass. But working on gadgets, that he could understand.

“Well... When you say machines, does that include cars too?”, asked Hazel and changed directions.

“Uh... sure?”, shrugged Leo slowly. “My mamá used to have a car-shop. Why?”

“Well, that would be pretty brilliant”, grinned Hazel broadly, her eyes sparkling.

Frank knew where his girlfriend was leading them. After all, he had been to the di Angelo mansion often enough before. The look on Hazel's face told him that she was giddy for Leo's reaction. Frank too found himself anticipating it. Would Leo like it? Would he finally stop looking like a kicked puppy? Would he enjoy it? The Latino though was just thoroughly confused. As they reached their destination, Hazel grabbed the door-handle and stopped for a moment to look at Leo.

“Our father had... quite the obsession with the 30s. Everything he found related to them, he had to obtain and keep. Including cars. But he never cared to get them fixed. They were more like... trophies or stamps, you could say”, explained Hazel as she slowly opened the door. “So... plenty of cars that could need a couple of careful hands to fix them.”

“T—Those are not _cars_ ”, whispered Leo wide-eyed. “Those are _treasures_. Old-timers!”

The Latino stumbled into the room, too much in a hurry to get closer to the beautiful old cars to really care where he was going. About twenty old-fashioned, beautiful and quite dusty cars stood in a half-circle in the giant garage. They were easily the most beautiful sign Leo had ever seen and he briefly wondered how much his mamá would have loved it.

“Feel free to do whatever you want with them”, chuckled Hazel amused, cocking her head.

“You can't be serious!”, gasped Leo, turning to her with hopefully sparkling eyes.

“Nico has his favorite, a black Chevrolet Impala, and you'd do good to never ever touch it, but he couldn't care less about these cars. If anything, they make him angry because father spend more time with traveling the world to buy them than with us”, chuckled Hazel wistfully. “He doesn't care and I don't even have a driver's license. The cars had been collecting dust for ten years now, so if fixing cars is something you enjoy, go on and do so.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”, exclaimed the Latino and jumped her, hugging her tightly.

Hazel blushed slightly, but she wrapped her arms around him nonetheless. Frank couldn't help but glare at them, though he wasn't quite sure why, because he wasn't jealous. The cute imp didn't pose a threat to Frank, the Canadian was too secure in his relationship with Hazel for that. Within less than ten seconds, Leo dashed off again, running from car to car to take a closer look. Hazel grinned amused as she grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled Frank with her to the center of the garage, the one thing surrounded and faced by all the old-timers. A giant, beautiful bed. Frank tried not to think why Hades di Angelo has had a bed in the middle of the cars, or why Nico had kept it. Sitting down together, the couple stayed to observe Leo. The Latino was checking the work-bench and the tools and judging by his giddy and joyous yelps, the tools were to his liking.

“He's really cute”, chuckled Hazel tenderly, an amused smile on her lips.

Staring at the Latino's ass as the boy leaned over the open hood of one of the cars, Frank grunted and nodded. If others reacted to old cars like Leo did, then the bed probably came in handy to seduce and brag. Licking his lips, Frank could picture seducing the Latino here after a hard day of work for the boy. The way his hands worked the machines was nearly hypnotizing and the oil and grime on his clothes and face gave him such a cute, wild touch.

“Very much so”, grunted Frank and nodded again. “I wonder what his hands are capable of...”

“I wonder what someone with as much nervous energy as him would look like all tied down...”

 

/break\

 

Jason gulped hard as he paced in front of Annabeth's and Piper's bedroom. Since Frank and Hazel had taken Leo with them, he had been standing there and contemplating what to do. Gathering his courage, he took a deep breath and opened the door slowly. What he found looked distinctively like some kind of wet dream he once had. The two girls, only dressed in shorts and thin tops, were having a pillow-fight. The way things wiggled and they giggled was quite inspiring.

“Uh... Piper, I wanted to talk to you”, muttered Jason, trying to suffocate the lesbian-fantasies his mind was currently providing him with. “A—About Reyna.”

“Us girls will go for a drink tonight so I will get to know her better”, smiled Piper, no trace of the earlier malice to be found as she pushed a pillow out of her face. “I think there is no need to talk about her until I properly met her in person, don't you agree?”

Something ridiculously suicidal within him wanted to scream that no, he didn't agree. But his survival instincts told him that he was right now dodging a bullet, so he simply nodded and left.

“Your boyfriend is weird”, frowned Annabeth confused and cocked her head.

“Like you're one to talk”, snorted Piper and leaned back some.

Both were red-faced and breathless. After Piper had finished Annabeth's hair, some minor discussion had started a war between them. The fact that the beds were practically covered in soft, big pillows had only helped them. Biting her lower lip, Piper stared at the gorgeous blonde. She had a fighting spirit, just what Piper had first loved about Jason. But somehow Jason had changed, had grown... softer, lost that hard and calculating edge she had first valued. In Annabeth's mesmerizing, gray eyes, she could still see that edge. But Piper's eyes were drawn away from those eyes as the still faster breathing of the blonde moved those hypnotizing boobs up and down, up and down.

 

/break\

 

“I... give... up...”, panted Reyna as she swam to the edge of the pool. “You're like a race horse born to the sea, Jackson. Jeez, stop it finally. Can't you just... relax?”

“Sorry”, grinned Percy sheepishly as he finished another round. “I just... love water.”

“We should probably head back. It's getting late”, noted Nico with a look out the window.

Climbing out of the pool, he first offered Reyna a helping hand and then Percy. Though once the swimmer left the water, Nico lingered behind some so his eyes could linger on Percy's behind. Reyna elbowed him hard in the ribs and gave him a chiding glare. Grinning slightly, Nico shrugged and grabbed his clothes, his attention on the way Percy's muscles flexed as he got dressed. It was frightening how fast Nico felt himself falling for this boy, but everything Percy did was perfection to him. The way his body moved in the water, his charming and soft smile, his sea-green and beautiful eyes, his ruffled and raven-black hair, his gorgeous and fuckable ass. Nico licked his lips.

“How about we fetch dinner on our way back? There's this pizzeria close by”, suggested Percy. “I'm sure the others are hungry too by now. And no one can say no to pizza!”

“That's very thoughtful of you, Perseus”, smiled Nico, subtly resting one hand on Percy's lower back as he wrapped his other arm around Reyna's shoulders. “Let's do just that.”

Percy grinned pleased as he nearly automatically found himself leaning against Nico's side. Swimming, naked Nico and now even pizza for dinner? This was quite the good day, in his books. Sure, he still needed to contemplate the whole gay-thing, but that still had some time.


	6. Pineapple Pizza and Sexual Suggestions

_Chapter 6: Pineapple Pizza and Sexual Suggestions_

 

Time was up as they reached the villa again. While Reyna went to bring the six pizzas they had bought (they hadn't managed to agree on anything), Nico had offered to go and gather the others. Leaving them to their tasks, Percy had excused himself and said he wanted to take a shower after swimming in the chlorinated water of the pool. Once inside the bathroom he was sharing with Leo, he locked it and shed his clothes. Time to have his gay-freakout. Well, more or less. He wasn't one to freak out easily and he hadn't been raised by Sally to believe being gay was wrong. His mom had taught him that every form of love was good, as long as it was true love. He didn't need to contemplate his sudden sexuality with Reyna and Nico around though, so he was glad to have a moment's time for himself now. Truth be told, he had never paid sexuality much mind. He was with Annabeth, yes, but the two had only shared small kisses and held hands so far. No one had ever caught his interest, at least not like that. He had eyes, he saw when a girl was beautiful or a guy was handsome, but looking at someone had never send this tingle of arousal through his body.

Stepping into the shower and turning on the hot water, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Time to test a theory. It's what Annabeth would do. She was clever, if something was strange, she would investigate and not freak out. So that was what he would be doing now. Investigating.

Gripping the base of his cock, he tried really hard to get himself hard. He tried to picture different things. The first thing, the most obvious thing, was Annabeth. His girlfriend. Shouldn't her beauty make him hard like nothing else? Nope. Okay, maybe with less clothes. But instead of making him hard, it only made him feel guilty to think about her that way. Shaking his head, be tried different women. He was a teenage boy, he had come face to face with lingerie advertisements or internet porn before. Still nothing. Groaning frustrated, he rested his forehead against the tiles.

Now to the proving part of this test. It was easy to recall the picture of a naked Nico from earlier. The way the water was running down that toned, gorgeous body, the flexing of his impressing muscles, the cheeky and amused smirk on his lips, the sweet cock between his legs. Percy found himself wondering what that cock would look like when erect. Blushing furiously, he felt himself hardening. Biting his lower lip, he tried to take it further. He imagined kissing Nico, recalled the feeling of Nico's hands on his body, imagined how it would feel if those hands would roam his body, caress his thighs and size his cock and grope his behind.

“N—Nico”, gasped Percy as he came and sprayed his seed against the tiles.

His eyes were wide as he stared down at the mess he had made. He was gay. Or maybe he was Nico-sexual? All he knew for sure was that Nico made him feel things and want things that he had never desired before but now seemed to be a part of him and his feelings. How was he supposed to deal with this? Not that he had a problem with it, it didn't really make a difference if he liked boys or girls, but... He had a girlfriend and he was living together with said girlfriend and with the boy he was obviously attracted to. This was a situation he really was not prepared for...

 

/break\

 

Leo Valdez was in love. Completely and utterly in love. And his new love would be called Festus. Tenderly caressing the hood of the unique, beautiful car, he smiled softly. This was the kind of car his mother had always dreamed of owning. This car would make his mother happy...

“Leo...”, interrupted the soft voice of Hazel his musings. “Come on, you've spend hours looming over the cars now. Time to get some food into you. You're too thin anyway.”

“Don't sound so much like Piper”, muttered the Latino embarrassed. “But I guess you're right.”

“Then come. Let's go and get some food”, said Frank, resting one arm around each their shoulders.

Leo found himself leaning into the touch. He enjoyed the feeling of the lean muscles next to him, the warmth of another body so close by. With a look at his watch, he noticed that he had spend hours with the cars. He couldn't believe the couple had stayed the whole time. Didn't they have anything better to do? Why should they spend so much time just watching him...?

“You seem to really like that one car in particular”, noted Hazel softly, grabbing Leo's hand behind Frank's back. “Why is that? I mean, to me all cars kind of... look alike.”

“It's... the car my mamá always dreamed of owning”, whispered Leo, with a sad note to his voice.

“Well, you can have it. Take it with you and show it to your mother”, suggested Hazel with a smile.

“As long as I can't take the car with me to the afterlife, that won't be possible...”

“Oh...”, whispered Hazel with soft eyes, caressing the back of Leo's hand. “I'm so sorry.”

“Don't be. It's been... many years now”, murmured Leo and shook his head, his eyes downcast.

 

/break\

 

Reyna, Annabeth, Piper and Jason were standing in the kitchen. Therein laid the problem already. Reyna had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the stove. Annabeth was setting the table and Piper and Jason were just sitting there and _talking_. How could they just be talking like that? Reyna gritted her teeth. The native American was beautiful, she had to give her that. But that was all. She didn't deserve Jason. Why did she look so happy and content?

“Annabeth told me about this beautiful bar in the town”, smiled Piper, still looking at Jason.

The blonde boy nodded slowly. He tried to focus on her, but Reyna so close by made it really hard to focus on anything else aside from her steeled and gorgeous self. Reyna was a fighter, had always been. The two of them used to train together. But Piper? She wouldn't look at a sword twice, she didn't understand this hobby of Jason's. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on her words.

“Yeah? Sounds nice”, said Jason with a slow nod, unsure what else he should say.

“Yes!”, exclaimed Piper delighted, suddenly turning toward Reyna. “Annabeth and I thought we could have a girls' night out. What do you think, Reyna?”

It took the black-haired girl a couple of moments to understand that his ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend had just suggested that they'd have a  _girls' night_ . Suddenly, he had a hopeful blonde girl in front of her, staring with wide, pleading storm-gray eyes at her. Urgh. Somehow, she liked Annabeth and that girl was hard to deny. Besides,  _maybe_ getting to know this Piper-girl may help her. If she'd show her good will, perhaps Jason would notice.

“Very well”, nodded Reyna slowly.

“Say, Reyna...”, frowned Annabeth after a moment. “Where did Nico go?”

“He said he would go and tell Percy to hurry. That boy is taking a little long with his shower...”

The blonde girl stared wide-eyed before huffing loudly and stomping out of the room. Jason frowned confused, sipping his coke, while Reyna sat down on his other side. That he could live with. Being sandwiched between the two girls. Couldn't that just be a solution? Pretty please?

 

/break\

 

Nico shifted uncomfortably where he stood in front of the bathroom, his hand still raised to knock. But some very indicating noises had made him stop dead in his tracks. Moaning and gasping and whimpering and the sound of his name falling from Percy's lips. The boner he was nursing since then made it a little uncomfortable to stand there. But he couldn't find it in himself to leave now. He hoped Percy would come out every moment, maybe still look a little shagged. He really wanted to see that, see the lust clouding those sea-green eyes. Even though he was waiting for it, it still came as a surprise when the door opened. Not just for him, it seemed. Because the very lust-clouded sea-green eyes looked just as surprised, reddish lips parted with a yelp.

“N—Nico”, exclaimed the black-haired boy.

“That sounded quite different a moment ago”, noted Nico amused.

“Y—You _heard_ that?”, asked Percy slowly and backed off some.

He could feel Nico's eyes roaming his body. His naked body. In his haste and confusion, he may have forgotten to take clothes with him. So now he was standing naked in front of the boy he had just fantasized of while masturbating. And Nico had heard it. Right now, Percy wished the earth would split apart and swallow him. He regretted his wish the next second when panic gripped his heart, a familiar panic of falling into an endless, black chasm. The playful banter and embarrassment dimmed down compared to the familiar feeling of a nearing panic attack.

“Percy? Are you alright?”, asked Nico softly, concern laced into his voice.

He knelt down beside the naked boy, feeling his arousal die when he watched Percy like that. Sea-green eyes were wide in panic, his breath short as though he had forgotten how to breath.

“T—Tartarus...”, passed Percy's lips in a low whisper.

“Tartarus?”, repeated Nico confused. “What does that mean?”

“Percy!”

The sudden exclamation of the boy's name surprised Nico. Even more when he was pushed out of the way and Annabeth pulled her boyfriend into a tight hug, whispering soothing words into his ear, words Nico didn't catch. Somehow this felt familiar, in an eerie and heart-breaking way. As though he had witnessed this before, many times. The level of trust and intimacy between Percy and Annabeth. The feeling of being excluded from this, of not being the one to hold Percy. It was an ugly feeling, one he did not desire to ever feel again. Gritting his teeth, he watched them.

“Percy? Is it better?”, asked Annabeth in a soft and soothing voice. “How about you get dressed and calm down while Nico and I will leave, okay? We'll wait downstairs with dinner.”

Percy in her arms nodded slowly. The blonde stood, giving Nico a hard glare before grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room. Before the Italian had any chance to react, he found himself pressed against a wall, Annabeth's arm against his throat, her angry eyes locked with his.

“What. Did. You. Do?”, growled the blonde dangerously.

“I—I have no idea”, hissed Nico back, glaring down at the girl. “I don't even know what just happened in there! What was that? What's wrong with Percy?”

His concern and worry was real, which caused Annabeth to back off some. She contemplated her options for a moment. Kick him in the balls and leave. Kick him in the balls and explain it to him. Hard decision. In the end, she decided for Percy's sake to not kick Nico in the balls.

“He's having panic attacks”, replied Annabeth softly. “He... didn't have the happiest childhood and he never really got over it. He's only had me for too long, he never had enough support to overcome it properly, or enough self-confidence... it sometimes still haunts him.”

“I understand”, nodded Nico slowly, not understanding a word.

He couldn't understand how someone like Percy didn't have enough support to overcome a horrible childhood. He couldn't even understand how someone so adorable and wonderful had to go through something horrible at all. Something within him clenched at the thought that anything horrible would ever happen to his Percy. He could not, would not allow that.

“Then stop playing games with him”, whispered Annabeth as she turned toward the stairs. “His heart is... made of glass and it had shattered before. He doesn't need a horny bastard to chase after his ass just for a good lay. I will not tolerate for Percy to get hurt.”

 

/break\

 

Leo decided that this was his new favorite spot in the kitchen. The seat between Frank and Hazel. It was giving him a feeling of safety, it flared something within him. The feeling of having trusted the two of them with his life before. Which was a weird thing to feel, because he had never been in a life-or-death situation before. Still, it made him feel safe and protected to sit between them.

“Who got pizza?”, asked Leo curiously, staring at the five plates of deliciously smelling pizza.

“We did. Well, it was Percy's idea”, smiled Reyna and handed him a slice of pineapple pizza.

Leo blushed slightly at the soft smile. It was rare for pretty girls to notice him at all. Well, mostly so because he was always with Jason and why should a pretty girl smile at him when someone like Jason was close by? Handing her his plate, he accepted the offered piece of pizza.

“Well, that was very nice of him”, stated Hazel with a slight edge to her voice.

She grabbed a slice of salmon pizza and put it onto Leo's plate too, smiling brightly at the Latino. The way Reyna had been smiling at Leo didn't sit well with her. Frank had always been amused by how possessive she could be, but she had never noticed it before. But right now, with the way Reyna was smiling kindly at the Latino and the way Leo blushed, she _hated_ it. This could not be tolerated. Shaking her head, she tried to get that thought out of her head. It was ridiculous, she barely knew the little imp and yet he gave her the feeling of many shared adventures. A kind of connection she only had with her brother and with Frank.

“Well, where _is_ Percy? And for that matter, where are Nico and Annabeth?”, sighed Jason.

“Percy went to take a shower. He took too long so Nico wanted to check on him. And Annabeth... ran after them”, shrugged Reyna. “I hope we won't have to scrub blood off the floor...”

“Maybe they should shag it out?”, grinned Leo wickedly, earning himself some disbelieving glances. “What? It would work. One from behind, one on the front. Both get Percy.”

“No”, grunted Piper with a chiding glare. “Stop talking like that.”

She knew theoretically that Annabeth was with Percy and most likely, they shared a bed often. With their looks? Of course they did. But she didn't need to picture that. It made her shudder.

“What are you people talking about? You look like you're having fun.”

The smiling green-eyed boy made them only laugh harder than the mental picture and Leo's suggestion already had. Percy looked so innocent and clueless right now. Especially with Nico on one side and Annabeth on the other. Percy blinked confused and tilted his head as the others doubled over in laughter. Annabeth rolled her eyes at them and sat down next to Piper, pulling Percy with her. The obedient friend he was, he sat down next to her.

“Hazel”, started Annabeth with a smile as she leaned over to take a bacon pizza slice. “Piper and I had this wonderful idea that we girls could head out tonight. What do you say? You coming with us? There is this bar close by, it serves the best cocktails I've ever had.”

Piper cocked her head at the way Annabeth was bend over the table to reach the plate so far away from her. It made her breasts look excellent, pushing them up in her cleavage. Gulping slightly, Piper licked her lips, suddenly finding herself hungry for something quite different. She always had a thing for strong-headed blondes, but she had never truly appreciated the female body. At least not like that. Then again, she had never seen a girl with a nicer set of boobs than Annabeth's.

“Sure. It sounds nice, getting to know each other better now that we'll be living together.”

“No”, whined Frank annoyed. “You can't just leave. I thought we'd—uh... cuddle?”

“No one believes that, Zhang”, grunted Nico with a dark glare. “I think it would be lovely for you girls to spend some time together. _Some_ are a little uptight and could need a drink to loosen up.”

Annabeth threw him a nasty glare, knowing exactly that he was talking about her. Out of payback reasons, she rested her left hand on top of Percy's caressing it softly. He looked up at her like a surprised pup and gave her one of his more naive smiles, the ones just happy for the attention. But she wasn't able to hold his attention like she used to, because he turned those happy, sparkling eyes on Nico only a second later, batting his eyelashes at him unintentionally.

“Say, why don't we do the same?”, asked the green-eyed boy curiously. “I mean, not the pub, obviously. But this house is gigantic, I'm pretty sure you have a cabin with booze somewhere.”

“You want me to get you drunk?”, smirked Nico suggestively. “I could do that.”

“Us!”, corrected Leo, waving his arms around, one pizza slice in each his hands. “All of us! You don't just get to give him booze! We should like drink to our new brotherhood or something!”

“Alcohol sounds good”, nodded Jason in agreement.

He was slowly getting a migraine anyway and sure he was seeing things, because he was pretty sure the pillow fight between Piper and Annabeth had looked a notch erotic to him and the way Piper looked at Annabeth... It must be his teenage mind, because he kept picturing the two of them together. The image kept haunting him since this afternoon. Damn hormones. Damn hot girls. Damn lesbian vibes. But those two would look so hot together!

“Yes, alcohol sounds good”, whispered Hazel with a teasing smile behind Leo's back as the Latino had jumped up and was currently leaning all over the table to talk right into Jason's face. “You could make him drunk and get into your bed. I could join you later on?”

Frank stared at the ass that was pointed his way as Leo so beautifully bend over. “Not my bed. I share a room with Jason. The garage, maybe...? There was a nice, big, unused bed.”

“What are you two plotting there?”, asked Nico sharply when he noticed the whispers between his sister and Frank. “Don't forget that _nothing_ goes past me. Nothing inappropriate at least.”

“We're not planning on having sex with each other”, chimed both honestly, smirking.

“I don't trust you”, grunted Nico with one raised eyebrow.

“And I don't trust you”, hissed Annabeth behind Percy's back as the boy too leaned over the table to engage in the conversation between Jason and Leo (rather one-sided because only Leo had been talking so far). “If you get him drunk and abuse his trust, I will chop your balls off with a knife!”

Jason stared a little curiously between Leo and Percy, both talking a mile a minute, completely oblivious to the people having conversations behind their backs. Something was cooking in this house and he had no idea what it was and when it would be finished. But he was fairly certain that his headache would dull down once it was done.

“I would never abuse his trust. There are other parts of him I'd enjoy abusing more”, mused Nico with a dirty smirk, deliberately staring down at Percy's ass that was so nicely pointed his way from where he was currently hanging over the table between Annabeth and Nico. “I'd enjoy _using_ this one so much more. Believe me, _he_ would enjoy it too.”

“You're a bastard”, hissed Annabeth, grabbing Percy around the hips to pull him back onto his chair before raising his voice some. “And you, sit down properly! You can't eat like that!”

“Stop sounding like my mom, Annie”, laughed Percy amused. “You should know that I can eat in every position and situation. Don't spoil the fun all the time.”

“You are—horrible”, muttered Annabeth and shook her head.

“I know! It's what you love about me”, smiled Percy soothingly and kissed her cheek.

“Why do you have to be so adorable? It makes it so hard to be angry at you”, sighed Annabeth.

“Anyway!”, interrupted Piper loudly, disliking the display of affection between Percy and Annabeth. “I suggest we get ready after dinner and leave right away. It's already getting late.”

“Good plan”, agreed Hazel and nodded.

“Great. Then we'll get the house all to ourselves, boys”, grinned Leo broadly. “A real men's night.”

“I wouldn't call you men”, snorted Reyna with one raised eyebrow. “I can already hear you lot whining tomorrow morning. Let's see who of us will get through the first day of university best.”

“A bet?”, grinned Percy eagerly, winking at her. “I'll beat you, Reyna.”

“You wish”, laughed the black-haired girl, raising her glass of water. “I'd drink you under the table any day of the week. You will probably be knocked out here already while I'll be emptying the bar.”

“Drinking much is not a thing to be proud of. And you know you can't handle alcohol, Percy.”

“Here you go again, being a mother hen once more”, chuckled Percy. “The bet is on, Reyna.”


	7. Different States of Drunkenness

_Chapter 7: Different States of Drunkenness_

 

Jason was surprisingly clear in his head, considering the amount of bourbon he had downed in the past three hours. Then again, he was a wise drunk, unlike some others. Like Leo and Percy, for example, who were clearing giggling, horny drunks because they were dancing on the table and rubbing against each other like cats in heat. Or Frank, who seemed to be the brooding drunk, staring relentlessly at Leo's ass as though the Latino was hypnotizing him with it. There was Nico too, but even when drunk, the Italian was impossible to read.

Back to the main topic at hand. Jason was surprisingly clear in his head (aside from the fact that he easily got sidetracked, but that came with the ADHD). In fact, he now saw some things clearer than he had since arriving in this loony bin of a mansion. The crazy lesbian vibes for example. That was _not_ his wild imagination playing tricks on him. There was _something_ – sexual attraction, most likely – going on between his girlfriend and Annabeth Chase. And after years of knowing Reyna, he didn't have to guess for long to see her obvious intentions. She still had feelings for him, if the way she was glaring daggers at Piper whenever the native American had her back turned on Reyna was any indication to go by. The only problem however was; Where did that leave Jason? With a girlfriend that seemed quite bi-curious at the moment, or back with his ex? First, another drink.

 

/break\

 

“I am going to make Leo my wench”, declared Hazel after emptying her fifth shot and thrusting the glass back down onto the table. “Aye. That is happening, no way around it.”

“Your... wench?”, asked Reyna interested, sipping her red wine.

“Uhu”, nodded the golden-eyed girl determined, waving the bartender over to order another round of shots (even though she was the only one emptying them). “Like pirates. They kept hot little playthings around for fun too, right? Below deck, for entertainment and all. That's totally Leo. He's very entertaining. And hot. Annabeth, Piper, back me up here!”

The dark-skinned girl flailed with her arms as though that was in any kind of way helpful for her case, elbowing Piper and Annabeth hard. Not that the other two girls cared much. Annabeth had lost all inhibitions after her second cocktail, had proceeded by straddling Piper's lap and not left the place since then, most of the time with her tongue down Piper's throat. The native American had given a strangled and surprised yelp at first, but after Annabeth's declaration of 'You are mine now, Pocahontas', Piper had gladly dived into another kiss with a simple 'Let's paint with all the colors of the wind, John Smith'. Which was weird and had prompted Hazel to give a loud and inaccurate version of _Colors of the Wind_ for the whole bar to enjoy.

It was interesting to watch for Reyna. The Puerto Rican woman was a little better at handling her alcohol. She was still on her first bottle of wine, rather enjoying that than downing everything on the menu. Hazel was quite amusing when drunk, she had already told her about five different plans of How-to-seduce-Leo-hot-as-hell-Valdez. One involved her as a pretty princess, Frank as a dragon slaying knight and Leo as a helpful imp that was getting captured on the false princess-rescue. It didn't make much sense and Reyna briefly wondered where they wanted to get a dragon from, but she knew better than to argue with a drunk, so she had simply nodded. The plan with the pirates seemed so far the most logical – and that was saying a lot, because they weren't pirates and they didn't have a ship, but keeping Leo locking into their rooms to keep him around as sex-slave, yeah, she could totally see that work. Huh, it seemed she too was starting to feel the alcohol's effect.

What had thrown her off-guard however had been Annabeth. The blonde had been a frustrated drunk at first, mumbling incoherent sentences about Percy and how he was too good for Nico and how the Italian was surely currently in the middle of ravishing the poor, innocent boy. Which was adorable and had Reyna smile fondly at the blonde, because her worries sounded more like a big sister than a jealous girlfriend and that was a huge relief for Reyna, who by now had decided that she would be a blatant Nicercy shipper in that house. Which she may have exclaimed about two glasses earlier and okay, maybe she was feeling more of the alcohol than she cared to admit, because she had actually drawn a diagram onto a napkin to explain to Hazel in great detail what that meant – Nic-oAndP-ercy, hence Nicercy, because Nico would be fucking Percy's brains out and oh, don't get her started on shipping. Well, Hazel  _did_ get her started on shipping. Anyway, while she was busy explaining to Hazel what shipping was, Annabeth's mood had drastically changed from pouting about Percy getting laid to 'Damn it all, I want to get laid too'. Ever since, Annabeth and Piper were making out. Now to the good part – the good part for Reyna, at least – Piper was all in for Annabeth's exploring. That was good, because it meant her relationship with Jason couldn't be that stable or serious, right? The only question that remained now was: Was Piper only a lesbian when drunk or would this prove to outlast this little vodka-inducted making-out session...?

 

/break\

 

“Okay, that's enough now”, grunted Frank annoyed as Percy slipped one hand into the back-pocket of Leo's way too tight jeans. “Both of you, get down from that table, damn it.”

“Aw, don't tell me you're jealous”, grinned Percy teasingly, slipping his other hand into the other pocket, which turned the Latino a bright shade of red. “Mh... I think I'll keep Leo. Sorry, Frank.”

The mirth dancing in Percy's sea-green eyes told Nico all he needed to know. The green-eyed beauty was only teasing Frank with this and not being serious about any intentions toward Leo. Ever since the first bottle of Hades' private liquor cabinet had been opened, Leo and Percy had conspired together in low whispers and with bright blushes and giggles. Half an hour ago, they even drank to eternal brotherhood, which had been very cute for Nico to watch. Even though he had been highly against the notion of Leo rubbing himself against his Percy, he found it somewhat adorable that Percy wanted to help the Latino getting into Frank's pants (because that was what this was really about, Nico had tuned in on enough of their conspiracies to know of Leo's desires for Frank and Hazel – and once the Latino would be sober again, Nico would be having quite the serious conversation about the second part of that). Still, he was grateful when Leo got lifted off the table by a grumpy Frank. The Latino didn't look very pleased, more so embarrassed actually, where he was hanging over Frank's shoulder now. With a displeased grunt, Frank patted Leo's ass once and turned to leave the living room. With a loud yelp, Leo tried to escape. Without much success.

“Go get him, lion cub!”, cheered Percy, thrusting his fist in the air.

Nico leaned back in the broad, black leather armchair he was occupying, dark eyes glued to Percy's form, wondering what the beauty would do next. So far, every interaction Percy had since they had started drinking after the girls had left, had been with Leo. Now Leo was gone. Percy and Leo had both proven to be quite playful, giggly drunks and they had went along quite well.

“You two are boring”, pointed Percy out with a pout, sitting down on the glass-table.

His legs spread, his hands resting between them as he supported his weight with them, his feet dangling over the edge of the table. Nico was staring at the unavoidable view in front of him. The view of Percy's spread legs and the slight bulge of a half-erection the boy was sprouting. It was highly distracting, to say the least. Percy moaned – in annoyance, not in pleasure – and collapsed on the table-top, rolling around like a bored cat, stretching his luscious body in ways that seemed impossible to people with bones. At least for Nico. Licking his lips, Nico watched the way Percy's muscles flexed. Now he was glad that Percy and Leo had shed their shirts an hour ago during their little dance. Percy was amazingly trained, such a delicious six-pack, a toned chest. Just gorgeous.

“Ni~ico”, whined Percy and turned a bit so his big, pleading sea-green eyes stared up at the Italian like a begging kitten demanding to be petted. “Nico, do something. This is your house, entertain me somehow! I'm bored. Frank took away my Leo. Nico, please, entertain me.”

“You are a very exhausting drunk”, sighed Nico and shook his head as he stood up. “Come here.”

When he said 'come here', he had expected Percy to get up and follow him. He had not expected for Percy to sit up on the table and jump him from there, his arms around Nico's neck and his legs wrapped tightly around Nico's waist. Percy stared down at him proudly as though he had just performed an amazing trick. Nico made a mental note to _never_ let Percy get drunk unsupervised. And by 'unsupervised', he meant himself. It didn't seem safe to leave a drunken Percy alone with others. With a grunt, he tried to adjust to the additional weight and what the hell, if Percy threw himself at Nico like that, Nico could as well enjoy it. Smirking wickedly, Nico rested his hands on the amazingly firm heart-shaped ass of the other boy.

“More booze is in the cabinet, have fun brooding, Grace”, grunted Nico with a short nod.

“Have fun fucking, di Angelo”, muttered Jason absentmindedly, waving the Italian off.

 

/break\

 

The air got knocked out of Leo as he got thrown onto the bed in the garage. His face was brightly red as he stared up at the Canadian. This was a little more than he had anticipated for. When Percy had suggested to strip a bit and dance a bit to tease and see if the muscular, broad, amazing guy was even interested in Leo, Leo had _not_ expected to end in bed with Frank. What came next was even less expected, because the next moment, Leo found himself tied to the bed-frame with a belt.

“F—Frank...?”, asked the Latino half afraid and half aroused.

“No talking”, warned the Canadian and turned around. “I'm just making sure that you stay exactly where you are until Hazel returns. And no talking, because you have that whiny note to your voice that just makes me want to bend you over and if I start without Hazel, she will be upset.”

“O... Okay...?”, nodded Leo, unsure how to react to _that_.

“Good boy”, praised Frank and sat down next to Leo, leaning against the frame, running his fingers through Leo's curls. “Be a patient boy and you'll get a treat. Well, after the punishment for being naughty. No rubbing against Percy anymore, are we clear? Aside from, well, if that's what you want. Then, I guess, I'd have to untie you now so you can rub yourself against Percy.”

“N—No”, answered the flustered Latino and shook his head. “Not Percy. I want to stay here and wait for my punishment, please. A—And for Hazel.”

Frank smirked pleased, ruffling Leo's curls affectionately.

 

/break\

 

Annabeth moaned into the kiss as Piper's hands _finally_ came to rest on her ass. She had been wiggling it suggestively for at least ten minutes now. Her own hands were resting in a framing way on either side of Piper's chest, each hand holding one of the relatively small (compared to herself, then again, she was truly... blessed in that department), firm breasts. Enough time had been spend on thinking about Nico di Angelo and his impure intentions toward her innocent Percy. She wanted some impure intentions too! And their earlier pillow-fight had already put enough ideas into Annabeth's head. Now, with the right amount of alcohol to lower her normally quite level-headed thinking to a primal 'Want. Need. Have', she was occupying all of that delicious, rough beauty.

“I wanted to do that since I saw you half-naked in our room”, gasped the native American into their kiss as they broke for air. “Fuck, you're just... beautiful.”

“Mh... Thanks”, grinned Annabeth broadly, kissing along Piper's pulse. “Home?”

“Why? It's just getting good”, frowned Piper confused.

“Home has beds. Beds are more comfortable”, supplied the blonde and licked her lips.

“Oh. You're such a wise girl”, agreed Piper, nodding hastily.

Annabeth froze for a second. Wise girl? That sounded oddly familiar. But before she could dwell on that thought, she had Piper's lips pressed against her own again and wasn't that mind-numbing?

 

/break\

 

Okay, so maybe patience wasn't Frank's strong suit. Then again, there was a whining, horny Latino laying on the bed with him. By now, a very naked whining, horny Latino. He reasoned that he only wanted everything to be ready once Hazel would return. His fingers caressed every inch of caramel-skin that he could reach, because it was just too cute how Leo squirmed at his touch.

“You're beautiful”, murmured Frank in awe.

Leo blushed, which only made him look even more beautiful to Frank. While one of his hands slid down to stroke Leo's thighs in a nearly teasing manner, his lips slowly closed in on Leo's. Which was totally Leo's fault, because he had way too kissable lips, really. So if Hazel would walk in on them kissing, Leo would simply earn himself a more severe punishment for being so undeniable.

“We are going to fuck you all night long”, promised the Canadian hoarsely.

“Y—Yes, please”, gasped Leo and nodded hastily, spreading his legs some to urge Frank on.

“You really are a horny drunk”, snorted Frank with a frown, closing the spread legs (even though he regretted that right away). “No. Be a good boy and wait for Hazel.”

“I'd rather be a naughty boy and get more fun and more punishment out of this”, objected Leo.

 

/break\

 

Piper gasped exhausted as she finally collapsed on her bed. She didn't remember walking being that difficult, but that may be the gin talking. Another gasp followed as Annabeth collapsed right on top of her. More or less, because the blonde was busy pealing her shirt off. And hello, gorgeous and amazing boobs, how much Piper missed you! The native American was pretty sure she was drooling when the bra _finally_ came off to reveal all of their glorious beauty. And yes, in that moment, Piper was utterly and completely gay for Annabeth's boobs, no ounce of straightness left in her mind at the sight in front of her, every thought of Jason deleted from her mind. It was as though Annabeth had taken over Piper's thinking and didn't leave any room for anything else.

“Fuck, you're so beautiful”, murmured Piper and turned them over so the blonde was laying beneath her, her breasts bouncing a little at the sudden movement. “Really seriously beautiful.”

Her lips attached themselves practically automatically to the soft skin. Kissing, biting and sucking accompanied her rather clumsy attempts of peeling their clothes off. Annabeth's fingers were clawed into Piper's hair as her moans filled the room.

 

/break\

 

Hazel yawned exhausted as Reyna more or less carried her inside. The two had tried to follow Piper and Annabeth as the other girls suddenly left the bar. It was a good think Reyna was relatively sober, because otherwise, Piper's and Annabeth's fake IDs would still be laying around in the bar.

“Bring me to the garage, my boys are waiting there”, demanded Hazel, her nose rubbing against Reyna's collar bone. “Frank and I wanna make Leo our wench, aye!”

“You're not making anyone your wench tonight, Levesque”, chuckled Reyna fondly. “You're wasted. You're going to sleep and sober up some. That's all you're capable of at the moment.”

The dark-skinned girl wanted to protest in annoyance, but then she already got dumped on a bed and when had they reached the garage anyway? A highly embarrassed Frank was trying to shield himself and Leo from Reyna's eyes, but the Puerto Rican woman only rolled her eyes and left. Good for her, because Hazel wasn't one to share her boys. Well, at least not with anyone else aside from said boys. She grinned in a dopey way as she snuggled up to the naked Latino.

“Nice present. But don't unpack presents without me, Frank”, chided Hazel with another yawn.

Her arms were tightly wrapped around Leo's waist as she slowly drifted off to sleep. The last thing she dimly noticed was a displeased grunt that sounded like Frank, most likely because he wasn't getting laid. Oh, hush now, tonight, he'd only get cuddles. It would be better to be sober for their first time anyway, mused Hazel with a hazed mind, sniffing Leo's neck. Mh, that was nice.

 

/break\

 

The taste was a curious one, Percy remembered it from somewhere. Beneath the booze was the sweetness of pomegranates and Percy found himself quite enjoying it, deepening the kiss, exploring Nico's mouth with his tongue, trying to scrape more of that taste off. His nails were scraping Nico's scalp, but the Italian's hissing sounded more aroused than painful. And damn, that hot piece of Italian hotness had some really cunning hands, because they were kneading Percy's butt in a way that would make his knees weak if he would be standing. Luckily, Percy didn't need to walk himself because he was still clinging to Nico like a monkey. Woah. Or not. A surprised yelp escaped Percy's kiss-swollen lips as he collided with the soft surface of Nico's bed, the Italian hovering above him. Huffing annoyed, Percy wrapped his arms around Nico's neck once more and re-connected their lips. There, so much better. Moaning into the kiss, he also attached his legs to Nico's waist again. Only when nimble fingers started to open his jeans did Percy break their kiss. With a strength that seemed to surprise the Italian did the green-eyed boy flip them over, straddling Nico's hips.

“No”, growled Percy, his voice darker than normally, his hands pressed against Nico's chest to pin him to the mattress. “I'm drunk, but I'm not that drunk. I'm not going to lose my virginity while being half wasted and cheating on my girlfriend.”

“You're just too good to be true, mio bello”, purred Nico, more impressed than disappointed, before pulling Percy into another kiss. “Then tell me how much I get, mio amato.”

“Kissing”, grinned Percy against Nico's lips. “Much, much more kissing. And maybe more of the groping. I like the groping. It's nice. Feels good. Maybe some cuddling? No, definitely cuddling.”

“Okay”, agreed the Italian amused, placing his hands once more on Percy's ass. “You're right though. This does feel nice. _You_ feel nice. Fuck, your ass is... totally worth worshiping.”

Groaning blissfully at the squeeze his ass received from the Italian, Percy let his lips wander some. Sure, kissing Nico was nice, but there was more to explore. He followed the path of Nico's strong yaw, scratching Nico's Adam's apple with his teeth just enough to get a growl from the Italian. Humming pleased by this, Percy continued his journey, nicking the skin of Nico's collar-bone to leave a mark, sucking hard to put some color to the teeth-mark. A hickey, Percy's mind supplied, making him giggle again. He was leaving a hickey on his Nico. The thought made him freeze and frown. Cocking his head curiously, he sat up some, feeling the hardness hidden by Nico's pants press against his ass, which was nice, yes, but also very unhelpful.

“What's wrong, mio bello?”, asked the Italian unsure, confused by Percy's sudden stop.

“Are you mine?”, asked the green-eyed boy in return, tilting his head to the other side.

“I'm... everything you want me to be”, nodded Nico slowly, his hands sliding up to grab Percy's waist and pull the other boy into another kiss. “Everything you want me to be, but one thing I am for sure. I'm completely yours and yours alone, mio amato.”

“Good”, smiled Percy brightly, sealing Nico's lips once more.


	8. The Morning After

_Chapter 8: The Morning After_

 

Kisses were trailed down Annabeth's collar and oh, did that feel good. She wanted to moan, but moving her yaw hurt more than it should. Her tongue was numb too. The last time she had felt like that, she had eaten a Monster Ball, complete in one go.

“Good morning, John Smith”, whispered a teasing voice.

John...? Annabeth frowned a little confused. Oh. Right. Pocahontas. Blushing brightly, Annabeth sat up and stared down at at Piper, who had found her way down between Annabeth's legs, her tongue teasing just below Annabeth's bellybutton. She was going down very determined.

“I—I... Jason”, was the only thing Annabeth could stammer. “You're with Jason.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm with Jason”, nodded Piper slowly, her arms on either side of Annabeth's thighs, still sitting between those invitingly spread legs. “Who had not even properly looked at me since he saw Reyna again. It's always been obvious. From the day he came to our school. He's always had her on the back of his mind, I knew I was just a rebound and now that he's living with her? I give them a week, at max, before they're back together.”

“Oh...”, nodded Annabeth slowly, though Piper seemed to take that as an invitation, because she lowered her head again – and as much as the tingling sensation of rising arousal urged Annabeth on to just lean back and yes, please, let Piper do all those things to her, this couldn't be that easy. “Wait. So you'd rather be unfaithful to Jason before he can do it first?”

“What...?”, asked the brunette confused and sat up some. “No. I'm not just sleeping with you for payback reasons. I'm sleeping with you because, fuck, you nearly knocked me out yesterday. You're so hot. And gorgeous and I have a thing for cute blondes. You're definitely a cute blonde.”

“B—But... I... Percy...”, was now the last thing that came to Annabeth's mind.

“Uhu. You're not just horny but also talkative when you're drunk”, pointed Piper out, grinning amused. “After we made out last night, when we were on the way back to the mansion, you kept on babbling about how Percy is gay for Nico and how you need to protect your baby brother's virtue from the 'Italian sexual predator'. So... I figured it'd be alright with you to have hot, amazing lesbian sex with me. Was it not? Because I'd love to... eat you for breakfast right now, but if you don't-”

“Uh, no, no”, interrupted Annabeth and blushed brightly, spreading her legs just a little more. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? C—Can't have you skip it...”

 

/break\

 

The skin beneath his lips tasted salty, more salty than was normal for someone who hadn't sweat that much. If Nico would have had his way last night, then the sheet of sweat covering Percy's body would be an explanation for the taste. But somehow Nico had a feeling that this was Percy's natural taste. And somehow, Nico really enjoyed it. Pushing the shirt out of the way some, he sucked on Percy's collar-bone, adamant on leaving a mark. To annoy Annabeth and even more so to fluster Percy. Grinning like a predator, he scraped his teeth over the soft skin.

“Uh, yeah, if you'd mind stopping?”, grunted a sleepy voice.

Nico froze and lifted his head to stare up at a tired Percy. “I'm sorry. For... molesting you in your sleep. Well, probably also for molesting you while being drunk last night. That wasn't very gentleman-like of me. I'm normally not that straight-forward, but you just...”

“Right”, nodded Percy slowly. “Now come here and kiss me. Properly and sober.”

The way Nico stared at him as though he was crazy and perfect and amazing all at once, made Percy smile slightly. As the Italian still didn't obey, Percy wrapped his arms around the broad neck and pulled the other boy into a siring, slow kiss. Life came back to Nico and he eagerly responded, pinning Percy to the bed and deepening their kiss with gusto. His hands started wandering.

“No. Keep your greedy paws to yourselves, di Angelo”, laughed Percy amused and wiggled out of the grip. “No touching. And this was also just a good morning kiss. I'm still in a relationship with Annabeth and before we do anything more, I have to... end things with Annabeth. She's always been my best friend. I owe her this much. I owe her the truth.”

“Right”, agreed Nico and gritted his teeth. “Of course you're right. Yeah. But... then...?”

“Then I'm free to be yours”, grinned Percy and laid his arms leisurely around Nico's neck.

 

/break\

 

Waking up like this was something Leo could thoroughly get used to. The smell of oil and leather, cars. And soft, warm pillows that had a steady heartbeat. There was a strong, muscular blanket wrapped around him and yes, all in all, this was completely perfect.

“Morning, little imp”, murmured Frank's dark voice. “How did you sleep? Are you hungover?”

“Naw, is fine”, mumbled Leo and turned to look at the Asian. “But why are we naked?”

“Because if Hazel wouldn't have fallen asleep on us last night, we would have had amazing sex.”

“Oh. Okay”, nodded Leo and closed his eyes, before bolting up. “Wait, what?!”

“Sex”, supplied Hazel as she too slowly woke up. “You, me, Frank. Mh... You know, I always get horny after a night of drinking... So... Are you my treat to be devoured now?”

“Sex? Us? Now?”, repeated the Latino slowly, looking from Frank to Hazel and back.

“Only if you want, Leo”, nodded Frank solemnly. “Do you want?”

“Yes”, exclaimed Leo and nodded hastily before blushing brightly. “Uh, I mean...”

“No, I think we get what you mean”, smirked Hazel amused and kissed him.

“So... we get sex now?”, asked Frank hopefully.

It was weird, he remembered his first time with Hazel quite vividly, but right now, he felt like an insecure virgin again, like an awkward, fifteen-years old who had never done more than kissing. Shaking his head, he tried to get that thought out of his head. It was very persistent and seemed to haunt him these days. Ridiculous. He had never been such an awkward kid, he had always been a jock, at Jason's side leading their football team. He was in college now, for the gods' sake! Wait, gods? Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate on his two hot, naked lovers. So much better.

 

/break\

 

Guilt was eating Percy away. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. All his life, all he ever remembered, was that he had been with Annabeth, as though it was written in stone or in a book or however that stupid saying went. Like someone had decided this for him. That he was meant to be with Annabeth. But Nico, he made him question this. Question what _he_ wanted from life. And the answer was simple. Not Annabeth. Not as his lover. The two could quarrel and talk past each other, because their interests were just too different – Percy was simple and aloof, liked simple things and swimming and fishes and horses, but Annabeth, she was all books and architecture and seriousness. They could ignore each other and talk past each other like no one else and it didn't bother them because they cared, they knew the other didn't mean it bad.

“Annie? Are you awa—oha”, asked Percy as he opened the bedroom door.

Yes, Annabeth was awake. And she had Piper between her legs, doing unspeakable things with her tongue, judging by the look on Annabeth's face and the blush painting her cheeks. Percy stared for another moment before the two girls actually registered that the words spoken had come from him. Yelping loudly, Annabeth pushed Piper away roughly and pulled the blankets around her body.

“I'm your boyfriend and you're too modest to be naked around me?”, was the first thing coming to Percy's stunned mind. “Really? And wow, here I came feeling all guilty. But it seemed you came without feeling guilty at all, huh? Is this why we never had sex...?”

“Percy...”, started Annabeth softly and averted her eyes. “Piper, would you mind leaving us alone?”

Piper grabbed her own blanket and wrapped it around her body before walking past Percy, not even looking at him. Being condescending or being guilty and embarrassed? Percy couldn't tell and he didn't really care either. Turning around, he gave Annabeth the chance to get dressed.

“Well? When were you going to tell me?”, asked Percy, his voice hurt. “I mean, I've been feeling so guilty for kissing Nico last night and I come here to confess and to apologize, just to find you mindlessly screwing around with Piper?”

“I'm sorry Percy, really”, whispered Annabeth and grabbed his arm to turn him toward her again once she was dressed. “I didn't mean for things to go this way, really. I care very much about you, I guess that's why I stayed with you even though I'm not in love with you. You're... too good, too trusting, I don't want to see you getting hurt. Do you have any idea how many people leer at you like you're some piece of perfectly made rump-steak? I just... wanted to protect you.”

“And making me believe that we're in love and then cheating on me, that's protecting me?”, snorted Percy with a vicious glare. “I know I'm a little naive sometimes, but I'm not an idiot and I can watch out for myself! I hate when others make important decisions for me! So... screw you! Or screw Piper, for all I care. I don't need a babysitter that manipulates me!”

Annabeth jumped slightly as Percy stormed out of her room and closed the door quite loudly.

 

/break\

 

“Well, it sounds as though _someone_ in this house is awake”, muttered Jason to himself.

“I think most are awake, but they have better things to do in bed than sleep at the moment.”

The blonde blinked a couple of times and turned around to look at his girlfriend. Piper looked as though she was wearing a toga, with the bedsheets around her. Somehow, that idea made Jason smile nostalgically. Togas sounded like home, like something good and familiar. He frowned.

“Good morning, Pipes. Why are you wearing bedsheets?”, asked Jason curiously.

“Uh yeah, that... I think we need to talk”, nodded Piper and sat down next to him. “You know I've always had a sense for romantic relationships and even if I didn't... Jay, it's painfully obvious that you still have feelings for your ex and I am not a girl to screw with. I want to be honest with you, I thought a revenge fuck would make me feel better, but it only makes me feel bitter. And I don't like feeling bitter. But I like the way Annabeth makes me feel. So... We're over, Jason.”

Wide, electric-blue eyes stared at her surprised. He had spend the whole night thinking about how to approach Piper and how to break up with her – because she was too kick-ass, he feared she would be breaking his bones if he'd dare to break her heart. This was not how he had pictured it. But Piper had always been different, never been what others expected her to be. She gave him a nonchalant grin and stood again, leaving the room with a sway to her steps.

“Wait. What does Annabeth have to do with this?”, called Jason after her as her words caught up.

So the lesbian-vibes hadn't been his imagination after all. How high were the chances that Piper would let him watch? Maybe if he played his cards right? Oh, who was he kidding? He was Roman, they had more moral than such things. Wait, he was Californian and not Roman. Where had that weird thought come from? Shaking his head, he decided to make coffee. Maybe he had drunken too much last night after all and the expensive, old whiskey had screwed with his head.

 

/break\

 

This had been more awesome than his first flight with Festus! What was that even supposed to mean? Blinking a couple of times, Leo shook his head and laid back down. He got pulled into a tight, sweaty hug by Hazel, her lips all over his. Frank was slowly softening inside Leo and wasn't that a weird feeling? The Latino grinned broadly, deciding it to be the good kind of weird.

“So... am I your dirty, little secret now? Or what?”, asked Leo after a moment of post-orgasmic bliss. “I mean, is this a one-time-thing or something that will be secretly repeated?”

“Why should you be a secret, Leo?”, asked Frank confused from where he was kissing and biting Leo's shoulders. “It's not like you're an affair. I know that Hazel is sleeping with you and she knows that I am sleeping with you, so... You're ours. It's a bit unconventional, but...”

It was highly unconventional. Hazel blushed at the scandal this was. These kinds of thoughts kept crossing her mind these days. How different everything was, as though she had woken up from a coma and time had just gone by without her. That felt like the right explanation, but when she had asked Nico, he had only given her a weird look and shook his head. Something was off, something was seriously weird and Hazel was determined to get behind it. But first, she was going to get behind Leo and enjoy that sweet backside for a little while longer.

 

/break\

 

Nico di Angelo was not nervous. He did not get nervous. He was steeled and gloomy and all those nasty things others said about him behind his back. But he was not a twelve-years old girl, waiting for her crush to tell her if he liked her back or not. Laying on his bed and waiting whether or not Percy would return, he did feel an awful lot like that twelve-years old girl. Suddenly, the door got nearly ripped out of its angels and a furious Percy stormed into the room. Percy was angry and bitter and disappointed, it all spiraled together in a tornado of anger and he felt as though he could make the Earth shake beneath him, cause storms and wreak havoc. But once he was inside Nico's room, he felt calm again. Looking at Nico, he felt as though this boy was what tied him to the mortal world. A small smile found its way back to his lips as he climbed onto the bed.

“I want to... I want... I don't know what I want”, frowned Percy as he straddled Nico's hips. “I want everything and most of all, I want you. I want everything and I want it with you.”

“That's okay”, smiled Nico and leaned in to kiss the other boy. “I'll take everything you'll give me.”

“I—I'm... a virgin and I really don't want to... do this right now, but I do want it. One day. Just... I want to take things slow...”, whispered Percy softly and curled together on Nico's chest. “That okay too? I mean, you were very eager last night... A—And if you can't wait-”

“I would wait a hundred years for you”, chuckled Nico with a sincere smile. “It's okay. Like I said, whatever you're ready to give me, I will take it. I... just want you. Even if it means only holding you. We can wait with everything else as long as you want. I feel as though I've waited to have you for years now, so color me completely content at the moment.”

“Good”, smiled Percy and nodded slowly. “That's good. Because I'm too. Content, that is.”

His eyes scanned the room – this time without being completely out of it and distracted by Nico's tongue. It had style. Kind of a dark, gloomy, underworldly style, but style nonetheless. A photo on the nightstand next to them caught Percy's attention, making him frown.

“Who's this?”, asked Percy and reached out to trace the frame.

One was Nico, ten years old, the other was a girl that looked an awful lot like him, both with their sparkling, happy, dark eyes turned toward the camera. Both kids looked incredibly happy and yet, this picture made Percy feel horribly sad and send the pain of guilt through him.

“My older sister, Bianca”, answered Nico with a certain softness to his voice.

“Bianca...”, repeated Percy, marvelling at the way the name rolled off his tongue as though he had spoken it before – flashes of metal and screams and pain shot through his mind. “I—I'm sorry...”

“Sorry?”, asked Nico confused, grabbing Percy's trembling hand. “What for?”

“For your loss. F—For... I don't know...”, mumbled Percy confused.

He looked up to stare at Nico with those wide, guilty sea-green eyes like a puppy that had just ruined the good pair of shoes and feared punishment now. Nico frowned, resting his free hand on Percy's cheek, caressing it in a soothing manner. Percy leaned into the touch like a starving man would reach out for bread. He could see it before his eyes. The girl, dieing. To safe... him?

“I don't know what you're talking about, Percy”, chuckled Nico softly, pulling Percy closer. “Bianca is not dead. She's attending AU too, by the way. Very much alive and nagging.”

“She... is...?”, asked Percy completely confused, cocking his head. “But I thought... Didn't she die when she was twelve...? I'm so... I thought I saw it, maybe in the news or something... I saw...”

“Well, you must have been mistaken there. Maybe it was a girl that looked like her, but Bianca is very much alive”, corrected Nico seriously, grabbing Percy's face firmly. “She practically raised me and Hazel. She's sometimes a little controlling and snappy, but she loves me. She's been my biggest support at coming out, you know? She was all 'gay pride, yay!' and 'be who you are'. I don't know why you think she's dead, but _please_ never say that again. I don't know where I would be without her, who I would be without her. She's... the light of my life.”

“I'm sorry”, nodded Percy slowly, pressing his lips tenderly against Nico's. “I must have been mistaken. You're right. Must have been someone else. I'm sorry, I just... a little out of it?”

“Yeah. That looked a little like that panic-attack you had in the bathroom yesterday”, agreed Nico worried, pulling Percy against his chest once more and getting comfortable. “Care to share? I mean... You're a pretty though guy. You're strong.”

“I don't know where you got that notion from”, frowned Percy confused. “I'm _weak_. I've never been able to hold myself against bullies, that's why I learned sword-fighting. I've always been on my own. Stuck with... my abusive stepfather way too long, never found friends... I learned to be strong in body, but I'm weak in mind. I've been alone for far too long. Annabeth is my only friend.”

Something about this picture bothered Nico immensely. Percy wasn't meant to be alone, he should have dozens of admirers and friends around him who love him and worship the ground he walked on. Percy shouldn't be alone. Nico would give everything to change that, to erase that loneliness.

 

/break\

 

“Smells delicious, Jason”, commented Reyna as she entered the kitchen. “Can I...?”

“Of course”, nodded Jason and fetched a second plate to divide his bacon and eggs by two.

“So... I made a decision last night”, drawled Reyna out as she started eating, leaning against the counter next to Jason who was cleaning the pan in the sink. “I'll get you back. You know I'm a fighter and I will get you back. After I saw your girlfriend all over Annabeth last night, I've decided that you deserve better. You don't deserve me in particular, because you left me, but I suppose I'll make an exception. Because I _really_ want you. Anything to say?”

This morning didn't even remotely go according to Jason's plans and if he would have known this, he could have spend the night sleeping instead of scheming, really. Why did he always end up with girls that never did what others expected from them and were just so thick-headed that Jason didn't stand a chance against them anyway? Well, that must be his type then, he guessed.

“Piper and I broke up”, blurted Jason out – wondering where his brain-mouth-filter went. “Uh, yeah. That happened. So... If you want... I mean... We could... go on a date? Maybe? Talk about things. About us. What happened in the past years and all. Catch up, yeah?”

The cold glare she had been giving him melted away some and she even smiled slightly. “Yeah, I think I'd like that. A date. Tonight? After university is over? Your treat, of course.”

“Of course”, nodded Jason solemnly, hiding a grin. “Which reminds me...” He turned around to scream out of the kitchen door. “Guys! Time to get up! Classes start in half an hour! It's Monday!”


	9. First Day of University

_Chapter 9: First Day of University_

 

Leo was in total awe, staring around with a gaping mouth. Piper and Jason left and right of him chuckled amused at his adorable reaction, the girl ruffling his hair affectionately. Electric-blue eyes swept over to check for something else though while Jason let Leo guide him into the building (much like a hyperactive puppy pulling on the leash to check every tree and bush in the new park). Reyna had left pretty much right after he had asked her out. They hadn't really agreed on anything yet, so he had hoped to find her right away and clear some things. He had not anticipated for Athena University to be so crowded though. Giving up on his chase for Reyna, he turned to Leo.

“So... how was last night, tiger?”, asked Jason teasingly, nudging Leo.

“Aw, how cute. If he'd be able to blush any more, he'd burst into flames”, teased Piper amused.

“You guys are mean. Why am I even friends with you?”, groaned the flustered Latino.

“Because we love you”, chimed Piper and kissed Leo's cheek. “Now, how _was_ last night?”

“I... uhm...”, started Leo unsure, fidgeting with the strap of his bag. “I think I have a girlfriend-”

“What in the world did I miss last night when I was stuck between Annie's legs?”, gaped Piper.

“-And a boyfriend”, continued Leo, blushing even brighter before staring stunned at his female best friend surprised. “Wait, what were you doing between Annabeth's legs?”

“Genius, what do you think she did down there?”, snorted Jason and rolled his eyes, then turning to Piper, cocking one eyebrow. “Leo is now with Hazel and Frank. It was an... interesting night.”

“You can say that out loud”, grunted Jason with a short nod.

“So... I got laid, Leo got laid. Annabeth _obviously_ got _highly_ satisfied”, started Piper off, smirking slightly. “What about you, Jason? Did you have pre-breakup sex too?”

“Apparently I am the only one in this house who didn't get laid last night”, grunted Jason, shaking his head. “Well, and Reyna perhaps, I guess. Not sure what happened during your bar-tour.”

“No sex for Reyna”, replied Piper. “Though I think I actually started liking her last night. Huh.”

“Could be because you don't see her as a potential threat anymore?”, teased Leo and grinned, before frowning. “Wait, you said that you're the only one who didn't get laid. What about Percy and Nico?”

“The last thing I saw of them was Nico carrying Percy off to his room”, replied Jason solemnly.

“As much as I'd _love_ to hear more about that particular story, I don't want to be late for classes on the first day”, stated Piper and dashed off, calling over her shoulder. “See you for lunch, maybe?”

Jason waved his ex-girlfriend off and then turned toward Leo with a serious expression. “So... Frank and Hazel. Do I have to have a talk with them? You know, the 'if you hurt Leo, I will hunt you down and hurt you twice as badly'?”

“If you embarrass me in front of them like that, I will never talk to you again!”, hissed Leo.

“Yes, and I'd like to avoid that speech too. It's unnecessary anyway”, interrupted Hazel amused as she stepped up to them and grabbed Leo's hand. “Don't wander off like that. We're going to be late.”

“Uhm... well... See you later, Jay?”, offered Leo and blushed, staring at their linked hands.

Hazel winked at the Latino and pulled him along, leaving Jason to his quest of finding his class.

“Uhm, hey. I'm Jason. What's your name?”, asked Jason as he sat down next to a brunette.

“I'm Katie”, replied the girl, shaking his hand. “And that's my friend, Chris.”

The guy next to her nodded in greeting. Jason grinned slightly and got more comfortable, letting his eyes wander while his tired mind was being a little sluggish still. There were two guys however that caught his interest. They made him a bit on edge. A blonde with a scar and a one-eyed Japanese. He somehow had the feeling this day was going to be quite interesting for them all.

 

/break\

 

Reyna was no where near Jason though, because she was in the gym, together with Percy and Frank. The three of them were awkwardly looking around, trying to adjust. At least until each of them found someone to latch onto. Reyna's eyes brightened when she noticed her older sister Hylla and Hylla's best friend Kinzie. Reyna smiled and ran over to them.

“Hey, I wouldn't have expected to see you here!”, grinned the Puerto Rican happily.

“Rey”, noted Hylla, looking equally stunned. “Well, what can I say? Law the last year really wasn't my thing, so I started over. You shouldn't be _that_ surprised. All you know, you've learned from me.”

“If we had a free room in our apartment, we would have taken you in, Reyna”, grinned Kinzie, ruffling Reyna's hair affectionately. “So, where _are_ you staying now?”

“In the di Angelo mansion”, replied Reyna. “It's a pretty amazing place.”

“Oh. Bianca di Angelo?”, asked her older sister surprised.

“Who's Bianca di Angelo?”, asked Reyna confused. “No. I'm staying with Nico di Angelo.”

“ _That_ is Bianca di Angelo”, replied Kinzie, nodding her head to another group of people.

Two of those people were Percy and Frank. After Percy had recognized Bianca di Angelo from the photo in Nico's room, he had made a comic noise that had made Frank question him. Upon discovering that  _this_ was Hazel's sister, Frank too wanted to meet her. So the two boys headed over to the beautiful Italian girl. Bianca was surrounded by four other girls. Well, she was engaged in a conversation with two of them, while the other two stood off some, bickering loudly.

“Uhm... H—Hi”, stuttered Percy, unusually nervous as he approached Bianca.

The Italian girl smiled a bit confused and cocked one eyebrow, though the two other girls at her side sneered at Frank and Percy as though they both were something utterly distasteful and disgusting.

“Yes?”, asked Bianca curiously. “Can we do something for you?”

“I'm Frank”, grinned the Canadian. “Hazel's boyfriend. And that's Percy. Nico's boyfriend.”

Percy stared at the blunt boy next to him, glaring slightly. He had barely settled with the fact that he was probably bisexual (he still tended more to Nico-sexual though). And him and Nico had only gotten together three hours ago or so. He didn't even know how Frank knew. Before he had any more change to seethe, he got tightly hugged by Bianca.

“Finally! I've been waiting for Nico to find a boyfriend for ages now!”, exclaimed Bianca, pushing Percy away enough so she could look him up and down. “And such a cute one! I hope you're good to my baby brother. You know, I'm very protective over my siblings.”

“That is a family trade”, grunted Frank, thinking of Nico and shuddering.

“Oh you, you're not off the hook either!”, warned Bianca, turning toward him. “Hazel has been talking about you nonstop. So I suppose you're alright. I'll still have an eye out for you, boy.”

“I really don't understand why Hazel wants a boy anyway”, snarled the brunette next to Bianca.

“Shush it, Phoebe”, warned Bianca with a slight glare. “I just want my sister to be happy. Apparently, a boyfriend does that for her. You know what, I'll meet you and Zoe later.”

With that, she left her two friends and took Frank and Percy with her to talk to them. Though they were followed by the two bickering girls, both staring at the boys inquisitively.

“Wait, I know you. From Jason's old photos”, pointed a black-haired girl with electric-blue eyes out.

“Oh. You must be... Jason's big sister”, frowned Frank confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm Thalia Grace. That's my... not-friend Clarisse”, chuckled the girl. “And well, Jason had been talking about this university for so, so long. I figured after all the years we had been separated due to our parent's divorce, I don't want to lose him again any time soon. So I thought I'd follow him.”

Upon seeing Percy's curious look, Frank elaborated. “He stayed with their mother after the divorce, you know, where Hazel, Reyna and I are from, Thalia stayed with their father. Their parents got back together a couple of years ago, that's when Jason moved away and met Leo. Uhm, and Piper.”

“Where are we going and why are we taking the two punks with us?”, grunted Clarisse irritated.

“Because the two punks are dating my siblings”, grinned Bianca amused, ushering them outside. “So let's show them around before Coach Hedge comes to bark at us again.”

 

/break\

 

This place was – by far – the most awesome place in the whole world. Or at least that was what Leo had silently decided. Hazel had led him to the forges and the 'tinkering department', as Hazel had called it affectionately. The room itself was amazing, large, with one work-bench for every student, forges, tools, metal and wood. Everything they would be needing. And Leo had, within five minutes, already gathered a group of awesome people around him. Beckendorf, Jake, Nyssa and Shane were their names and their minds worked just as fast as Leo's. Together, the five of them were already discussing plans for inventions and gadgets. A really big guy sat down with them, all sparking eyed. Charles Beckendorf smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder.

“That's Tyson Jackson. He's the son of the literature professor”, said Beckendorf.

“Jackson? Like Percy?”, asked Leo surprised, staring at the brunette boy wide-eyed.

“Yes! Percy is my half-brother!”, exclaimed Tyson happily. “How do you know my brother?”

“We're... living together”, answered the Latino with a grin. “He's pretty awesome.

“Mom had said that brother moved back here”, nodded Tyson. “I haven't seen him yet though...”

“You could come over for dinner tonight!”, suggested Leo, growing very giddy.

“The Latino is quite adorable. He looks like he's ready to burst”, whispered a beautiful blonde two work-benches over, giggling slightly. “A total cutie, that one.”

“ _My_ adorable cutie”, huffed Hazel next to her, glaring slightly.

“Don't worry about her”, grunted a freckled boy sitting in front of them. “Silena only points out facts, as she likes to call it. But she's totally faithful to her lover-boy. Beckendorf, over there.”

“Aw, thank you for the word of confidence, Alabaster”, cooed Silena amused.

There were two other girls with the three of them – Lou and Miranda. Miranda, a short girl with long, dark curls, was arranging jewels in flower-patterns, while Lou was busy laughing.

“Alabaster is one to talk. You should see him when _his_ lover-boy Ethan is close”, snickered Lou.

“Oh, shut up, Lou”, hissed Alabaster, flushing beneath his freckles.

Hazel chuckled amused, her eyes wandering over to Leo, shining with affection. Yes, she liked this place. The people here seemed nice. Nice to Leo. She was playing absentmindedly with a jewel, knowing exactly what kind of jewelry she wanted to make with it. Something for Leo.

 

/break\

 

“Now, that's it for today, people. I'll see you tomorrow”, announced Professor Blofis.

Piper sighed relieved and hastily gathered her things. Professor Blofis was nice, yes, but the chick she had been sitting next to during the lecture had been horribly annoying. Drew Tanaka, was what she had introduced herself as. Piper had never met someone as self-centered as her. So she was eternally grateful for the Stoll-brothers sitting behind them, because the two brunettes had practically pranked Drew all day long. Which was very enjoyable to watch. And the girl sitting on her other side was sweet. Juniper, a shy girl that kept daydreaming while staring out of the window. It wasn't too hard to figure out what she had been daydreaming about once Piper noticed the gardener working in the flower-field beneath their window.

“So, Juniper, what's his name?”, asked Piper with a slight grin as the two girls left the room.

“W—Who do you mean?”, asked Juniper wide-eyed, blushing as they walked down the corridor.

“The gardener outside, silly”, smirked Piper, nudging her. “Hey, you want to join me and my girlfriend for lunch? Then you could tell me _all_ about the boy with the goatee.”

 

/break\

 

“Do you want to go to the library with us, Annabeth? We wanted to get the books Professor Jackson wants us to read right away, before they're all checked out”, asked Rachel curiously.

Rachel was a cheeky redhead that had been sitting next to Annabeth during their first unit of Medieval Literature. Now the redhead and her friends were surrounding Annabeth with inquisitive looks. Malcolm, who had sat on Annabeth's other side, as well as Rachel's twin-sister Ella and Rachel's best friend Octavian. The five of them had spend nearly the whole lesson whispering about the book suggestions Professor Jackson had made. Though before Annabeth could reply her new friend, she got interrupted by a familiar voice from the professor's desk.

“Hey, mom. I figured I could visit you during lunch break? Sorry I haven't come over yet.”

“Percy!”, exclaimed the professor and jumped off her seat wide-eyed. “Oh, of course. I mean, you just moved here two days ago. You needed to get settled and all. I'm so happy to see you. How is your new place? And your roommates? Are they nice to you? Do you like college so far?”

Percy grinned and hugged his mom tightly. “The place is _awesome_ and so are my roommates. I, uhm, you really need to meet him. Them. You really need to meet them. They're great.”

“I'd love to”, smiled Sally, kissing his cheek. “I'm so sorry, but I'm... short on time. I... Professor Blofis had invited me for coffee and I don't want to seem rude. He's a... very charming man.”

“A very charming man, huh?”, grinned Percy teasingly. “I'd like to meet that charming man.”

“Oh, Percy. Don't tease!”, huffed Sally, blushing slightly. “That's not nice of you.”

“Sorry, mom”, smiled Percy, hugging her again. “Have fun. I guess I'll go and search for Nico then, maybe he wants to spend lunch with me... Uhm, he's... the owner of the place, you know.”

“Interesting”, commented Sally, noting the slight blush on her son's cheek. “Well, have fun.”

Percy grinned and waved at her before leaving the room again, though he found himself followed by a persistent blonde. He scowled slightly as Annabeth called after him, calling his name.

“Percy, please. Wait. We're... you're my best friend”, sighed Annabeth upset once she caught up to him. “Please, I didn't mean to hurt you. I was drunk and... Piper makes me feel so...”

“Special?”, supplied Percy in a soft, sad voice. “See, I get that. Nico makes me feel that way too. But unlike you, I wanted to talk to you about it first. _That_ 's what hurts. Because we _are_ friends. Best friends. Or at least... I thought we were. Until I found you naked with Piper.”

“It just... the passion... it was so intense. I didn't... I was drunk, last night. And this morning, I figured it wouldn't matter anymore anyway”, sighed Annabeth, looking guilty. “I care about you.”

“Well, if you say so”, shrugged Percy. “I have to go and find Nico, if you'd excuse me. I'd like to spend my lunch break with people who don't lie to me and sleep around behind my back.”

It hurt Percy, probably more so than it hurt Annabeth, when he walked away from his best friend. As soon as he reached the room where he knew Anatomy 101 was being taught, all worries fell off him. He smiled brilliantly as he saw his Nico, sitting there and talking to four blondes and a petite brunette guy. Nico looked up from his conversation, returning the smile as he spotted Percy.

“Oh, that must be the boyfriend then”, grinned one of the blondes teasingly.

“It is”, nodded the Italian, getting up to give Percy a friendly hug. “That's Percy. Percy, those are some of my fellow students. That's Will and those are Kayla, Austin, Lacy and Mitchell.”

The four blondes and the brunette obediently waved at once. “Hello, Percy.”

Percy grinned at them and nodded, gripping Nico's upper arm. “Uhm... You have... time for lunch?”

“I'll always have time for you, mio bello”, murmured Nico softly, interlacing their fingers. “Come.”

Percy smiled brightly as he let the half-Italian pull him along and down the hall. Forgotten was the conversation with Annabeth and the fact that his ex-girlfriend had broken his trust. All he could think about was how handsome and amazing Nico looked, how his muscles moved with every confident step the Italian took. And that  _smirk_ , that hot half-smirk. It made Percy's knees go weak.

“Where are we going, Nico?”, asked Percy confused as they reached the wing with the offices.

Nico just smiled as he knocked at a door labeled with JANITOR BOB. The door was opened by a tall guy who looked like Albert Einstein, with a cat on his shoulder. The guy smiled down at them.

“Nico! How nice of you to visit! How have you been?”, asked Bob, hugging Nico tightly.

“I've been great”, smiled Nico kindly. “This is my... boyfriend. Percy. Percy, my friend Bob. We wanted to spend lunch together, but I want it to be... nice. You think you can help me with that?”

“Oh, of course, Nico. Everything for my best friend”, smiled Bob, ruffling Nico's hair and handing him a bunch of keys. “Just make sure to give them back by the end of the day. Have fun.”

Nico grinned mischievously, dangling the keys at Percy and pulling his boyfriend along to a locked door. Cocking one eyebrow, Percy stared at the keys in confusion. Behind the locked door was a staircase and Nico led him up onto the roof. A gasp escaped Percy's lips – and it didn't come from the exhaustion of climbing about ten thousand stairs. From the rooftop, they could see all of Terrapolis, all the way up to the coast even. A fine line of ocean in the distance.

“I—It's beautiful”, whispered Percy and stepped up to the fence surrounding the rooftop.

“I figured you'd like it”, grinned Nico and walked over to stand behind Percy, wrapping his arms around Percy's waist and resting his chin on Percy's shoulder. “You know, maybe this weekend, we could go to the beach together. I'm sure you'd appreciate the ocean.”

“How did you know that?”, asked Percy surprised.

“I don't know. You just strike me as an ocean-lover”, shrugged Nico. “I mean, you _are_ a swimmer.”

“And _you_ are sweet”, grinned Percy and turned around so he could lay his arms around Nico's neck.

“Is it alright though?”, whispered Nico concerned as he sat down on the ground, pulling Percy with him. “I mean, that I introduce you as my boyfriend to others. I'm fine with being gay, but... you... it's still new to you and I'm sorry I overstepped, but... I'm just so glad that you're mine and-”

“It's okay”, smiled Percy kindly as they unpacked the lunch Jason had made for them this morning. “I mean, it is all very new and kind of frightening for me, but I... I'm not a liar. I don't hide myself. I've always been honest. So I don't... I don't want to be in the closet and I don't want to pretend that you and me, that we're not something special. Because we are. Oh, and Frank outed us in front of your big sister anyway. So yeah, that's that. She'll come over for dinner tonight.”

“Wonderful”, nodded Nico and made a grimace. “She's going to grill me that she learned of you from someone else and not from me. That's going to be a fun dinner.”

“And she'll bring her girlfriend with her. Who happens to be Jason's sister”, continued Percy.

“Like I said, fun dinner”, grunted Nico and stole one of the sandwiches from Percy. “Mh.”

“Yeah, Jason is a good housewife”, grinned Percy, licking his lips.

“So, how was your first day, mio bello?”, asked Nico softly. “Did you have fun?”

“If you call a tinnitus fun”, grunted Percy and rolled his eyes. “Coach Hedge has a mouth, I'd like to wash it out with soap. He kept screaming at us. But he's a good coach. Pushed us to the limit. What about you, Doctor di Angelo? Oh, there is a kink in _that_.”

“Perv”, noted Nico and cocked one eyebrow. “Well, it was pretty... boring, actually. I mean, so far, it was the basics. I already know the basics. But Will and his guys are nice enough company. You?”

“Your sister. And Jason's sister. And Clarisse. She's kind of fun, even though she's a brute. Nearly ripped me apart when we were one on on”, grunted Percy and shudder. “That girl is strong as an ox. I think Frank is intimidated by her. At least a little bit. It's adorable.”

“Huh. I'd like to see that”, chuckled Nico amused.

“Oh don't worry, no one scares him as much as you, Mister Big Brother of the Girlfriend”, teased Percy and leaned in to kiss the corner of Nico's lips. “Uhm, you had... mustard there.”

Nico cocked one eyebrow at that before smirking and smearing his lips with the mustard. “Anywhere else too? You may want to take care of that too, Percy.”

“Idiot”, smiled Percy softly and kissed his boyfriend tender. “I think... I really like you.”


	10. Waking Up to a Nightmare

_Chapter 10: Waking Up to a Nightmare_

 

This was the most awkward date either Reyna and Jason had ever attended. They were just silently sitting opposite each other, staring at each other and drinking too much. Only coke and fanta, but still. Whenever they wanted to say something, but couldn't come up with something to say, they awkwardly grabbed their respective glasses and drank a couple of sips. When they were half way through dinner, Reyna has had enough. Huffing annoyed, she thrust the cutlery onto the table.

“Okay, this is ridiculous. There must be something we can talk about”, sighed Reyna.

“I know. It's just... weird. I feel guilty for leaving and every story I have to tell about my life since then involves Piper and talking about my ex on our first real date would be stupid. And I just did it anyway. Just awesome” groaned Jason, hitting the table top with his forehead.

“It's... alright”, nodded Reyna slowly, smiling despite herself. “Try and relax. We used to be best friends. We used to talk about anything. So just... talk. Even if it involves Piper.”

Jason leaned back, relaxing a little. He started talking. About everything. Living with his father and stepmother and Thalia and going to school with Leo and Piper. But the more he talked, the more he felt as though he was spinning a tale. And the more he tried to concentrate on details, the more blurry did his memories get. Like, he tried to remember when and how Thalia had gotten the blue highlights in her hair for the first time, tried hard to focus on the scandalized expression on his stepmother's face, but it was just... a blank. Everything seemed oddly blank and blurry.

 

/break\

 

Percy was so short of a mental melt-down. They were having a large and awkward family dinner. He could feel Nico's hand on his knee, caressing it soothingly. They were sitting at the table, together with Percy's younger brother Tyson who had brought his girlfriend Ella, their mother Sally and Nico's sisters with accessory. Hazel sat between her boys, Leo giggling as he talked animatedly to Tyson. And then there was Bianca, next to her girlfriend Thalia who kept bitching about Jason's absence. Percy had already send half a dozen messages to Jason's phone.

“Now, you two make a lovely couple. How did you get together?”, asked Sally curiously.

Nico and Percy blushed equally embarrassed as they turned to stare at each other, unsure how or where to start. Especially since whenever Percy started to think of how he met Nico, he had to think of a prom, a school and both of them were younger. Which was ridiculous. Groaning softly, Percy grabbed his head. It hurt, as though he was trying to hold too many memories inside of it.

“Are you alright, mio bello?”, whispered Nico, rubbing circles on Percy's thigh.

Grateful, sea-green eyes looked up at Nico. Percy nodded slowly and took a shaking breath. These headaches had gotten worse since he had moved into the villa. He just hoped it wasn't serious. Before he could think any more of it, the doors burst open to reveal Reyna and Jason. Both looked wide-eyed and a little as though they had seen a ghost. And even though both looked as though they had something important to say, they got interrupted by their guests first.

“So you're the girlfriend, eh?”, asked Thalia skeptically while hogging her baby brother.

Percy could feel there was a pressing matter behind Jason's and Reyna's outburst. But the Fates seemed set on preventing them from talking, because suddenly they were sucked back into dinner conversation. Wait, Fates? Percy shook his head and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

 

/break\

 

Annabeth was lazily laying between Piper's thighs, both of them naked. A smile was spread over Annabeth's lips as she listened to Piper talking about her grandfather Thomas and her father. It was however when Piper asked about Annabeth's family that the smile slipped. Something about the memories she relied to Piper felt off, like she was talking about the plot of a book. As though it wasn't real, wasn't her real life. Living with her dad and stepmother and stepbrothers, being raised in San Francisco, growing up there, going to school and all.

“Are you alright? Is it another headache? You know, I start thinking that something is in the water, because I've seen Percy having those too”, pointed Piper out, frowning worried.

Of course he did. They were linked, had always been linked in a way. Since they had retrieved the Master Bolt. Just as that thought went through Annabeth's mind, she saw the room flicker. Not her vision, because Piper and herself were still clear, it was the room that seemed to flicker.

“D—Did you see that?”, asked Annabeth concerned. “L—Like... reality breaking...”

“Okay, this is more than a migraine. Let's get dressed and talk to the others”, decided Piper concerned. “Nico must know a good doctor around here somewhere and you are going to see one.”

 

/break\

 

A broad grin was splitting Leo's face as he sat cuddled between Hazel and Frank on the backseats of Festus. Man, he really loved that dragon. Car. Car, not dragon. There were those jumbled thoughts confusing him these days, ever since all of them had moved in together.

“It's strange”, whispered Hazel, her fingers running through Leo's curls. “This feels so... surreal...”

“Yeah, as though it's too good to be true”, agreed Leo with a worried frown.

“Man, you're bad at being happy”, sighed Frank and shook his head.

“No, it's just... how all of this fit together”, replied Leo seriously. “How we all ended up here, in this house that fits all of our specific needs, with my absolute dream car just sitting here and waiting for me, with a university that conveniently teaches all those specific things we study – crafts, medicine, sport, literature, law, management – I feel like such a large university shouldn't be in such a small town like this. It's all just that edge too perfect. Don't you think so too?”

“I'm just glad to have both of you”, huffed Frank, leaning over to kiss the Latino.

“Which is another thing that's just too perfect!”, added Leo, dodging the kiss. “I mean, in what weird reality does someone like me get someone like you – especially since you were already such a perfectly happy couple to begin with! I just feel... as though this is a dream and any second, I'll wake up and be all on my own again and have nothing of this...”

He stopped mid-sentence as Hazel tightened her grip on his waist, looking frightened. “Look...”

And look they did. Outside their car, it looked as though there was nothing. A large, black pit of nothingness. Like the world outside their little bubble had ceased to exist. Leo yelped fearfully.

 

/break\

 

Even though Percy, Nico, Jason and Reyna had been engaged in smalltalk, that didn't last all too long. Percy's headache kept getting worse the more they talked. But he wasn't the only one. Nico couldn't stop staring at Bianca and he felt as though every time he looked at her, her image flickered to one far younger, in a silvery robe and nearly see-through.

During dessert, Reyna was the one who couldn't keep it in any longer. “This isn't real. I didn't grow up in Puerto Rico, not during this time period. None of this is real. Nothing.”

“I didn't grow up with Thalia, or our parents”, added Jason, grabbing Reyna's hand tightly.

“It's all... fake...”, whispered Percy wide-eyed. “All those... things... in my head...”

Nico growled as their surroundings flickered out of existence. He wrapped his arms around Percy nearly automatically, holding the other boy close. But they didn't fall. Everything around them turned pitch-black yet there seemed to be some kind of ground beneath them, shaking. Percy looked around with fearful eyes, just to see that his mother and Tyson and Ella and Thalia and Bianca, they all had faded too. But him and Nico weren't alone with Jason and Reyna. Piper, Annabeth, Leo, Hazel and Frank were with them. The nine of them huddled together instinctively.

“Do you... remember it too?”, asked Percy nervously, locking eyes with Annabeth.

“The kiss in the lake, the date in Paris, h—how Hera abducted you. All our _real_ memories”, whispered Annabeth back, not noticing the flinching of Piper and Nico at those specific mentions.

“Little demigods, you were faster than I anticipated”, growled a dark voice, echoing from everywhere. “But that is fine. You can not get out of here. Only if all of you want to break free.”

“Well, no problem with that”, snarled Jason, pushing forward some. “We have a mission. We will save the world, we'll kick your godly ass. Why in the world should any of us chose to stay here?”

“Yes!”, yelled Hazel, holding hands with both, Frank and Leo. “As long as we're together, it doesn't matter where we are. We'll stick together and we'll win, because we have each other.”

Leo looked wide-eyed and hopeful at her words and at her tight hold of his hand. He remembered, remembered the real world. The world where he indeed didn't have anything. Neither Hazel nor Frank. But the way Hazel held onto him, the way Frank stood protectively in front of both of them, it made him feel hopeful. His eyes wandered over to his best friends.

“You may think so, but I build an... insurance in for myself”, drawled Gaia's voice amused.

“What's that supposed to mean?”, yelled Reyna annoyed.

She had build a front, together with Jason, Frank, Percy and Nico. Leo and Hazel were behind Frank, Annabeth and Piper somewhere between Percy and Jason. The Earth shook again and as though on reflex, Percy did what he always did. He grabbed Annabeth before she could fall.

“That right there”, stated Gaia. “Nico di Angelo is my insurance.”

The demigods were confused, but when they turned toward Nico, a stunning realization hit them. In this world, this dream, Nico had gotten together with Percy. Because he loved Percy. Had probably loved him for a while. And the hurt in Nico's eyes while he stared at Percy and Annabeth nearly made those looking at him choke. Percy hastily let go of Annabeth, blushing embarrassed. But Nico had already averted his eyes, turned away from them. Gaia laughed cruelly.

“Three years of watching the boy he loved with a girl he tried very hard not to hate. Years of hiding who he truly was and what he really felt. Son of Hades, if you decide to stay here, in this dream, I can fix it. With your help, I can wipe all of your memories of the real world forever. You can live happy here, never having to fear rejection or taunting again, having the boy you love at your side forever. Having your dear, dead sister back. How could you abandon her? It would be like letting her die all over again, this time at your hands. _She_ could have a life here, if you decide to stay.”

The image of Bianca flickered back to life, smiling brightly and waving at Nico, beckoning him over. Jason gulped hard. Sure, here he had a close relationship with Thalia, but once they woke up again, she would still be alive and he would still have a chance to get close to her again. Once they woke up, he had a chance to rekindle his relationship with Reyna too. But Nico? Bianca was dead, long gone. A secret he had kept inside for so long now was out in the open, but in this dream-reality everything had been fine, now what was to happen in the real world? Would people be as kind and accepting? All those fears related to the time he came from must have hit Nico full-force again, judging by the pained look in his eyes. And Percy. Nico had been so sure to never ever face Percy and confront him with his feelings, but in this dream, he could the son of Poseidon. In this dream, the loose relationship between Annabeth and Percy had just been a teenage high school romance. Now their memories were back – memories of battles shared, kisses in the lake, months of searching and finally finding each other again. In Nico's mind there was probably no way that Percy would ever chose him over Annabeth, not with their shared past and not with the past between Nico and Percy, the betrayal and wrong decision both had made. Here, they had a clean start again.

“Nico...”, started Jason unsure, worried. “Please. Come with us. This... This is not a solution. Everything will be fine. We'll be fine. We're with you, dude. We're friends. Right, guys?”

“Nico, you're my brother. Why did you never tell me you're... gay? You didn't think I'd reject you, right? You're my brother and I love you and I will always love you!”, interjected Hazel.

Nico frowned confused as the crew build a half-circle around him and he found himself between the demigods and the image of his dead sister, older and alive. His eyes swept between Bianca, smiling at him and beckoning him over, and Percy, who stood there, looking confused, overwhelmed and like a kicked puppy. Sea-green eyes looked from Annabeth to Nico and back again. And that hurt.

“N—Nico...”, started Piper unsure, probably feeling unsettled by this as the daughter of love.

“Oh, shut up”, snarled Nico annoyed. “Don't pretend that you guys care or know what I'm thinking or what I'm going through. Because you obviously don't know anything about me if you think that I'll stay here and sabotage the quest out of selfish reasons.”

“W—What do you mean?”, asked Annabeth surprised, taking a step back.

After what she had witnessed over the past few days was only a glimpse of just how much Nico truly loved Percy and that much was obvious. Would he truly abandon this world where he had not just his dead sister but knew Percy at his side, as his boyfriend?

Nico drew his sword and turned around, back facing the demigods as he stared at the image of his sister and the direction Gaia's voice had come from. “You misjudge me if you think I put myself first. There is one person I put first, one person I will always put first. And that's Percy. In this world, he may have chosen me because he is miserable and  _weak_ , weakened by all the years with his stepfather. And if there would be a way for me to take even a single day Percy had to spend with this man away from him in the real world, I would move Olympus and Elysium to do so. So I will not selfishly force him into a life where he had to stay  _years_ longer with this man, just so I can have him. I will always,  _always_ , chose Percy's safety and happiness over my own.”

At that, he charged. He knew where to go, because as the son of Hades, he had a connection to the earth, not as strongly as Hazel since he was move on the dead-department, but he could still feel where the earth felt different from any other black spot in this pit. It must have worked, somehow, because in a flash, all nine of them blacked out as the spell was broken by the collective urge to wake up from all nine powerful demigods. Percy's mind was fuzzy and hazy and his head hurt when he woke up again. The night was clear and the air fresh, but he could see the Argo II and his friends nearby. Hazel was fussing over Leo, who was being supported by Frank toward the Argo II. Reyna was already climbing up the latter, following Nico who was already up on deck, far away from the other on the ground. Jason was down next to the latter. Annabeth and Piper sat together, looking uncomfortable, confused and worried. Percy decided to join them.

“So...”, drawled Piper, staring from one to the other. “The Golden Couple back on, now that you remember all those amazing, unique things you shared and all? Because I just... want that out of the way before I get back up onto that ship and before we continue this journey.”

Percy and Annabeth locked eyes, staring long and deep into each other's souls. And then they smiled. They didn't need any words exchanged, they just smiled at each other, knowing what the other was thinking. Taking a deep breath, Percy turned around, leaving the two girls to talk things out. He had a Ghost King to catch. Jogging up to the ship, he passed even Jason and climbed up as fast as he could. By the time he reached the deck, he could only see Reyna. He frowned.

“Where did he go? Where's Nico?”, asked Percy nervously, looking around frantically.

“He went below deck. What few things he has are still in your room, as far as I know.”

What few things he had? Sea-green eyes widened as he sprinted as fast as possible below deck and toward his room. Nico was just fastening the belt with his sword, jacket on. Percy did what he did best, he acted instinctively and threw himself at the son of Hades, knocking him down. Nico grunted as he hit the hard floor and glared up at Percy, who had his wrists pinned to the ground and was straddling his waist, holding him down and glaring just as irritated.

“Get off me, Jackson”, warned Nico. “I'm not that weak. I _can_ throw you off.”

“Do it”, nodded Percy, his brows furrowed. “Do it and leave. But if you leave now, you don't need come back. If you run away from me now, I _never_ want to see your face again, di Angelo. I'm sick of you hiding and running away from me. We _need_ to talk. So either you run or you talk, but if you decide to run, you never need to show your face to me again, I'm serious.”

“Percy”, sighed Nico defeated and stopped struggling. “I don't want to talk. What do you want me to say? That I've loved you since the first time I saw you, that I never could hate you, not even after Bianca's death, because I just loved you too much? That I spend years, watching over you from the shadows to keep you safe because losing you would break me? What does any of this matter? You have Annabeth. Your are _you_ , you aren't the you from this dream-world. You are a hero, you go on adventures with your _girlfriend_ Annabeth and do horribly cheesy stuff like kissing underwater. You _willingly_ fell into Tartarus for her. What do my feelings change about all of this...? Please, let it go.”

“No!”, exclaimed Percy frustrated. “No, I won't let it go! Because you don't get it! My dream-self may have been different, but so was yours. I—I... I was different, because I didn't have all this pressure on me. Annabeth was... simple. She was the easiest choice for me. Ever since I met her, everyone pushed us toward each other, I mean, come on, they dumped us in that lake, together, because they _expected_ us to kiss. It was just so much easier to give in to what others expected from me than to... to think about... my feelings for you. B—But in this dream, I didn't have the pressure and maybe not having our fucked-up past helped too, but it gave me the free choice to take what _I_ want, instead of what others want me to want. And I want you. I want you, whether you're that Italian playboy in your big-ass villa or your regular kick-ass Ghost King-self. I want all of you.”

With determination, honesty and love shining in his eyes did Percy lean down. He kissed Nico, full-force on the mouth, hard and demanding and passionate. Nico was completely overwhelmed, but he knew one thing to do. He held onto the Sea Prince, arms around Percy's waist. Both were panting hard when they parted again, a blush gracing Percy's cheeks, lips pink and swollen from the kiss.

“Did... you just call me an Italian playboy?”, asked Nico dumbfounded.

“Oh come on, you were so aggressively hitting on me!”, justified Percy, his face aflame.

“So... this means that... But you and Annabeth...”, started Nico skeptically.

“Me and Annabeth will _always_ be best friends, but... we got forced into this relationship and we just settled for the cards the Fates had dealt us. But she's not who I desire, who I want to cuddle with and kiss and... uhm, well...”, Percy interrupted himself, blushing once more.

“Are you... sure?”, asked Nico and sat up some. “Sure that you want me – after all the mistakes I made, the times I disappointed you and betrayed the trust, all the bumps on the road?”

“All those bumps and edges are what makes our relationship so special, because regardless of how often either of us screwed up, we always orbited around each other and in the end, we always fought _together_ and not _against_. Because in the end, we belong _together_ ”, whispered Percy.

He yelped as he got pushed off and for a split second, he feared that Nico was not yet done hiding and running. But then Nico pulled him up, against his chest, arms laying leisurely around Percy's waist. The Ghost King's lips were half an inch apart from Percy's as he guided them over to the bed.

“I love you, Percy. I love you more than my own life. I will always belong to you”, said Nico softly.

“Good”, smiled Percy and captured Nico's lips in a kiss. “Because now you're officially mine and _no one_ can change that again. And if someone gives you a hard time about being gay, just shut them up and tell them that your Savior of the World boyfriend will kick their asses.”

Percy grinned, looking proud of himself. Nico snorted. This was such a Percy-thing to do. Worrying if anyone would give Nico a hard time, not thinking about himself. Caressing Percy's hair softly, he pressed the son of Poseidon against his chest. What Nico feared was that some of Percy's admirers would turn their backs on Percy. But Nico wouldn't allow anyone to badmouth his Sea Prince.


	11. A Dream Come True

_Chapter 11: A Dream Come True_

 

Leo did the only thing he could think of doing. He started up the Argo II and concentrated on steering the ship. He did not want to think about anything, not that dream, now what had happened to himself in there and also not what had happened to his friends.

“Leo, please stop for a second so we can talk”, pleaded Hazel, tugging on his sleeve.

“No, really not”, mumbled Leo, staring stubbornly straight ahead.

“But Leo, the dream...”, started Frank with a frown.

“Was a dream, yeah”, nodded Leo stiffly. “You two were actually _nice_ to me. Because I didn't have my fire and your life didn't depend on a piece of firewood, Frank. It wasn't real.”

“Why do you say it like that? We like you, Leo”, stated Hazel softly.

“Right”, snorted Leo and shook his head. “Look, it's fine. Let's just forget it happened.”

“No”, growled Frank annoyed and grabbed Leo by the shoulder. “How am I supposed to forget all the cute sounds you make when you're in ecstasy, or how cuddly you are, or how easy you let us tie you to the bed? No, no, no. We've had you and we're not giving you back again.”

“Things are complicated, Leo”, sighed Hazel and cupped Leo's cheek. “You look so much like Sammy and you have those powers that frighten Frank. But... But without those things in the way, we could see you for who you truly are. A passionate little genius, dedicated to your work and to your friends, you're kind and sweet and adorable and we want to keep you. Please.”

Leo turned those large, unsure eyes on the couple and oh, those kitten-eyes totally made Hazel melt. She bit her lips at his adorableness. She had always known that he was adorable, but to her, he was only the boy that looked like Sammy. This dream, it had let her see him as his own person, will  _all_ of his adorableness. And there was a lot of that. Cupping Leo's face, she slowly kissed him. His ears caught fire and steamed a little, which was making him look even more adorable. Leo yelped into the kiss, especially when he felt Frank's strong chest behind him, thick arms encircling his waist.

 

/break\

 

Jason heaved a sigh and stared up at the crow's nest where Reyna was sitting, glaring at the sky.

“Jason?”, asked Piper softly as the daughter of Aphrodite approached her boyfriend.

“Mh?”, grunted the blonde, not looking at her.

“You and me... We were easy, with the fake memories. You still didn't really remember your past fully when we decided to just... go with it”, whispered Piper. “With Hera and the giants and Gaia and all the war and prophecy stuff happening and looking for Percy, it was just... convenient to be together, instead of even thinking about what we really wanted. But I _want_ Annabeth. And I've known for months now that you have feelings for Reyna, but it was easier to ignore it. And I'm sick and tired of easy. We're heroes, damn it. We can do messy and complicated. I _want_ complicated.”

“But... what happens with you and me then?”, asked Jason worried. “I mean, are we... friends?”

“I'd like that”, nodded Piper with a slight grin. “Friends. Sounds messy, since we have a previous relationship based on fake memories and such. Good kind of complicated, mh?”

“The... best kind”, smiled Jason softly and hugged her.

“Now go and apologize properly to Reyna”, ordered Piper, nudging the son of Jupiter softly.

He nodded slowly and climbed up into the crow's nest. Reyna didn't even acknowledge his presence. Was she angry at him? It was one thing, the way things had been in the dream where he had moved away to live with his sister and had met Piper at a new school, but here? Where he had  _decided_ to choose Piper over her, even after they had seen each other in New Rome?

“I... came to apologize, but I'm not sure if words can even cover all the shit I did”, sighed Jason, running his fingers through his hair. “I was a stupid brat when we were praetors. I should have realized back then. And when I was gone, I was... I'm so sorry, Reyna. I love you. I always loved you. You're... You're the best friend I ever had, you were there and supported me when no one else in New Rome believed me and when I brought the Greeks, you still stood strong beside me. I know you will always be strong at my side and that's what I want. I want you at my side to be strong for me, even when I'm not sure of myself, even when I feel weak. I wouldn't be the person I am now if I wouldn't have had you at my side and I don't want to be without you.”

Silence befell them. Jason grew more and more nervous, he started to fidget, his teeth worrying the scar on his lips. He stared at her like a Golden Retriever in the rain. Reyna waited another few moments, enjoying the way Jason suffered, but after a couple of minutes, she couldn't keep the laughter inside anymore and collapsed against the rail, laughing loudly.

“Oh, Jason, if I would give you up that easily, I wouldn't be the Roman hero you love, mh?”, asked Reyna teasingly, hooking one finger into his collar and pulling him up into a kiss before pushing him off against the wood, glaring fiercely at him. “But if you pull such a stunt again, I will slice you into thin, little pieces and if you break my heart, I will literally crush yours. Are we clear?”

“I'm fine with that”, nodded Jason with a grin, grabbing Reyna by the waist and pulling her close.

They kissed again, this time more passionate and without interruption. Reyna leaned into the kiss, biting Jason's scar and tugging on it a little. Jason gasped and opened his mouth in reply, allowing Reyna to enter. The daughter of Bellona smirked into the kiss, hands flat against his strong chest.

 

/break\

 

Annabeth and Percy sat in the stables in silence. Percy was biting his lips, unsure what to say, but Annabeth wasn't off any better. She was twirling one of her golden curls, trying to find a way to start this. She essentially knew what she wanted to say, but she wanted to say it all at once.

“I'm sorry”, seemed like a good start.

“For cheating on me, for playing with me or for intentionally keeping me apart from Nico?”, asked Percy sharply, earning him a surprised look from Annabeth. “I'm not stupid. You and Piper, the way you two acted on the ship, stealing each other's breakfast and giggling together and gossiping the whole time? You're not a girl with girls as friends. You stick to your brother Malcolm, you had Luke and me and Grover, you don't befriend girls. I don't know if you and her had something going on while I was gone – and I don't want to know if you did, honestly – but I'm not blind. I wanted to ignore it. Like I was ignoring my feelings for Nico. And I know it was partly also my fault, the way things turned out, because I had feelings for Nico, feelings I didn't dare to acknowledge. Feelings _you_ saw. You kept him and me apart, didn't you?”

“Because I didn't want you to get hurt!”, blurted Annabeth out, teary-eyed. “Luke broke your heart, I know he's the reason why you didn't want to see what you obviously felt for Nico. And he, he wasn't even ready to admit that he was gay. He would have been entirely the wrong choice for you, he would have broken your heart! And I do love you, I love you like a little brother and I wanted... I never wanted to see you the way Luke had left you...”

“You... may be right”, whispered Percy softly. “Maybe we would have ended in a disaster. We surely would have. I was a mess after Luke's death and he really wasn't ready to admit _anything_. We would have made each other miserable. We needed this experience to find ourselves, because we could only find each other now that we have ourselves. But... that wasn't your decision, Annie.”

“I—I... I know... But you know that's my fault, I... I always think I'm right and that I do the right thing, I can't... see when I'm mistaken”, whispered Annabeth, sounding guilty. “But I didn't cheat on you, Percy. I... liked Piper, when we were in camp, but I didn't cheat on you. I wouldn't do that, not... here, in the real world. This dream was different, things were different, I was drunk, she was drunk, you had a horny and possessive Nico all over yourself and it made me angry how aggressively he was persuading you and how oblivious you were to that. I just... it was a mistake to sleep with her before coming clear with you first. And I'm _sorry_ for that and I know that I broke your trust by... making decisions for you. But... I hope we can still be friends, Percy.”

“You will always mean a lot to me and you'll always be my best friend, but... I need some time to myself. Not sure how we're going to manage that on this little ship, but I don't want to see you or talk to you for a while, to get... over this. I hope you can respect that”, stated Percy.

“O—Of... course...”, whispered Annabeth and gulped hard.

She was staring at the floor until she could hear him leave, only then did she allow herself to cry.

 

/break\

 

Piper was talking to Coach Hedge, who was _very_ irritated. Understandable so. The crew had met up with Reyna at the Doors of Death, ready to free Annabeth and Percy and then they got themselves abducted by Gaia and put into a three-days-abstinent-coma (according to the coach it had been three days) and then they just suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all nine of them, not just the crew and Reyna but also Percy and Annabeth? Yeah, it did take some explaining there. And even after that, the coach still didn't look entirely pleased and kept growling and cursing.

Which was when Piper decided it would be better to just leave him alone to fume. Just as she walked out of the mess hall, she saw a pretty upset Percy walking past her, not even noticing her. Cocking one eyebrow, she changed directions to walk to from where he had come. Judging by the face he had made, he had just talked to Annabeth. Which meant the daughter of Athena was probably off far worse. Entering the stables, she found a crying mess. Slowly sitting down next to Annabeth, she wrapped her arms around the blonde and pulled her close.

“Sh, Annie, it's alright”, whispered the daughter of Aphrodite softly, combing through blonde hair.

“N—No, it's not, he said he needs a—a break... f—from our friendship... B—But for the last five y—years, h—he was my... best... my... he was all and I... I ruined it...”, sobbed Annabeth.

“Hey, I may not know Percy Jackson as good as you do, but the guys seems pretty damn forgiving and he cares a lot about you. He's angry at the moment, but... it'll get better, I promise you he'll get over this, just give him some time, mh?”, whispered Piper, kissing the top of Annabeth's head.

She pulled the blonde into her lap and rocked her a little. Annabeth had her fingers clawed into Piper's shirt as she slowly cried herself to sleep, with Piper whispering softly to her.

 

/break\

 

Nico was comfortably laying on Percy's bed, in Percy's cabin. He had his arms behind his head and was staring up at the ceiling. When he closed his eyes, it was as though Percy was with him, because the strong scent of the ocean lingered in the bedsheets. He loved the smell of Percy in the morning, it was delicious. He still couldn't believe that Percy was actually his now.

Of course his stubborn Sea Prince would demand for them to talk about it, but he would have never thought that Percy would want him, that the real Percy would want him. He grinned pleased.

“Someone looks quite happy. Did you jerk off and think of me, or what?”, asked a teasing voice.

“I don't need to jerk off anymore. I got you for that now, mio bello”, replied Nico smoothly.

Okay, Nico was blushing when saying that and had his eyes still closed, too nervous to look at Percy, but that self-confident Nico was still inside of him and knowing that Percy wanted him made him feel like that guy, the guy who just said what he wanted and dared to be a little provocative. The door closed and Nico opened his eyes, coming face to face with a grinning but sad-looking Percy. It was the eyes. They were clouded like the sea when it rained, a dead giveaway that Percy was upset. Frowning concerned, Nico sat up and patted the bed next to him.

“What's wrong, amato?”, asked the son of Hades worried.

Percy snuggled up to him and buried his face in Nico's chest. “I talked to Annabeth...”

“Oh”, nodded Nico stiffly, still silently fearing that Percy would choose Annabeth over him.

“I told her I don't want to see her for a while, or talk to her... I just... don't know how we'll do that”, mumbled Percy and heaved a sigh. “I'm just... disappointed. I know she only meant well, but still...”

“It's alright, Percy, you did the right thing”, whispered Nico and kissed his head.

He laid down with Percy, kissing Percy's temple and cheek and in the end, kissed the son of Poseidon on the lips. Percy hummed into the kiss, arms around Nico's neck, body flush against Nico's. He moved sensational and slow, rubbing himself against Nico, feeling the bulge in Nico's pants. Both boys moaned as their erections rubbed against each other. Percy grinned at Nico, one hand on Nico's chest, the other cupping the Italian's cheek.

“What was that about having me to take care of such things...?”, whispered the Sea Prince softly.

“I—I only said that because... uhm... I didn't mean you'd have to, I mean--”, stammered Nico.

He blushed again, ruffling his curls embarrassed. Percy giggled delighted at that, kissing him.

“Nico, calm down”, laughed the son of Poseidon. “I know what you meant. I don't know which you I love more, the unsure one or the self-confident playboy. I'm offering, Nico. I've wanted you for so long and after our making-out in the dream, I want something real. And I want it all. I'm just offering. You don't... well, you don't have to either. I'm just... asking what you want, you know...?”

Now it was Percy's turn to blush, unsure if he had gone too far too early. But they were in the middle of a war where either of them could die any day and after so many years, they were finally together and he didn't want to waste a single second. Also, the last few dream-days were quite teasing and had made him eager for more. Biting his lips, he stared at Nico nervously.

“I... I...”, stammered Nico and took a deep breath, recalling that Percy wanted him, that Percy knew _him_ and that Percy had just offered this. “I want you. I want to have sex with you. Right now.”

“Good”, nodded Percy with a grin and started to undress them hastily.

Nico relaxed a little as he saw how Percy fidgeted with his clothes, nervous because this was his first time too, but also obviously quite eager. He grinned confidently as he saw a blush on Percy's face. It seemed as though Percy liked what he had just unpacked. But Nico too liked what he saw. Percy was absolutely delicious, his well-defined body, the sun-kissed skin. Just too tempting.

“H—How are we... going to do this now...?”, asked Percy nervously as they kissed.

His eyes were downcast, staring at both their cocks and Nico could picture what it really was that Percy wanted to know. Kissing Percy once more, he slowly lowered the Sea Prince onto the mattress and came to sit between Percy's legs, one hand on one of Percy's knees.

“If that is alright with you, Percy?”, whispered Nico, his hand slowly gliding down Percy's thigh.

“Uhu, I guess. I mean, I never had sex before, so I don't know if I'll like but I'd like to try it, so yeah, just... uhm... go for it?”, nodded Percy, ruffing his hair and taking a deep breath. “Yes.”

“Yes?”, repeated Nico, wanting double-confirmation because Percy still sounded unsure.

“Yes”, declared Percy, pulling Nico into a demanding kiss.

Nico hitched Percy's legs up for better access and slid one hand between them. He caressed Percy's cock until the pleasurable feeling had Percy all relaxed and ready for more. A single digit circled the tight puckered entrance tenderly. Percy yelped at first and stiffened a little, but the teasing was in good-nature and tender, so Percy soon urged him on for more. Nico's middle-finger slid in, wiggling softly inside his boyfriend. Percy looked a little uncomfortable at the new feeling so Nico kissed him again. Their tongues battled while the son of Hades added another feeling.

“You okay with this?”, asked Nico concerned, kissing down Percy's neck.

“O—Oh, that again, please”, gasped Percy as Nico brushed against his prostate.

Nico grinned at that. His teeth nibbled at Percy's neck which got eagerly bared by the Sea Prince. He was set on leaving a nice, dark hickey right there to tell everyone this one was his. A third finger was added, causing some quite obscene sounds to pass Percy's lips. Nico  _liked_ those sounds. A lot.

“Ready for more, l'amore della mia vita?”, growled Nico, his voice dark and laced with lust.

“Uhu, more of that, I love your Italian”, nodded Percy, mouth hanging open in an 'o'.

“Si, mio amore”, agreed Nico amused, kissing him deeply and removing his fingers. “Ti amo. Now how about you use those beautiful lips of yours. Lube me up some to make this easier.”

He sat up, kneeling in front of Percy. He waited a moment, observing how the Sea Prince blushed brighter. Licking his lips, Percy slowly engulfed the hard length with his lips, swallowing as much of the dick as possible. Nico gasped surprised as the inexperienced but eager tongue circled his head and lapped at his cock. Letting go of Nico again, Percy kissed along the length tenderly.

“Can you put _that_ to good use now?”, grunted Percy with a teasing grin.

Nico sat back down, grabbing Percy by the neck and pulling him up into a demanding and passionate kiss while positioning himself at Percy's entrance, slowly easing his way in as Percy was distracted by the kiss. His fingers were clawed into Percy's thighs, holding onto him. Percy was the one to break the kiss, dragging his lips along Nico's pulse and toward his collar.

“Mh... What do you taste like? It's so... bitter yet sweet...”, murmured Percy thoughtful.

“No idea, I never licked myself”, snorted Nico amused. “You tell me.”

“I don't know, but it's delicious”, hummed Percy, tongue circling one of Nico's nipples.

Nico was finally seated completely inside his lover while Percy scratched his teeth over Nico's collar-bone. Pulling out a little, he thrust back in. Percy gasped a little strangled at the new sensation. But the more often Nico thrust in, the easier it got. The more enjoyable it got. Soon, they were wildly fucking, Percy moaning between the son of Hades as Nico thrust hard and deep. After a while, Nico wrapped his fingers around Percy's cock and started to jerk the son of Poseidon off. His fingers were cunning and Percy wondered how often Nico had thought of him while doing this to himself. With Nico's name spilling from his lips, Percy spilled his seed over their joined bodies. Collapsing on the sheets beneath, he waited for Nico to finish too, deep inside of him.

“Ti amo, Perseus”, whispered Nico in a dark voice, sealing Percy's lips with a kiss.

He pulled the son of Poseidon close up against his chest, where Percy all too willingly rested his head on Nico's chest. Both boys were panting hard, unable to speak, but that was fine for now.

 

/break\

 

The crew sat together, gathered to talk about their future plans. They had to bring the Athena Pantheon to the Greeks. They had to make peace with the Romans. Nico was the obvious choice. He could shadow-travel, but it would be exhausting. He couldn't do that alone.

“I'll go with him”, declared Percy with a frown.

“Percy, you can't. We need you”, protested Annabeth, flinching when Percy glared at her.

“I think I can use the change of scenery. And I will not let Nico go alone. He'll be weakened from shadow-traveling and he'll not be able to protect himself and the statue properly. I'll go with him and protect him. Besides, I'm still the praetor, right? So I'll go and be praetor-y.”

“I think the ambassador of Pluto may be able to help you being more... praetor-y than that”, chuckled Nico amused, one arm wrapped around Percy's waist. “Someone has to protect you from yourself, after all. Though I do like the idea of having you as my personal bodyguard.”

“I'll come along too!”, huffed Hedge, hands against the table. “You two are entirely too touchy-feely there. You need a chaperone to keep you from doing anything indecent.”

“You sleep _deep_ if you didn't hear them being 'indecent' last night”, muttered Leo lowly beneath his breath, earning him an elbow to the rib. “Ouch. What? It's just the truth!”

 

_~*~ The End ~*~_


End file.
